Over the past few years, the term ‘finance transformation’ or ‘financial digital transformation’ has gained traction in the finance sector much the same way as ‘digital transformation’ has. If you play any role in a finance team, you’ll at least have heard of this approach, if not attempted to initiate it in your own organisation.

The problem is that where ‘finance transformation’ once had a clear, targeted meaning, the waters have now become muddied. This means that in place of the expected transparency and optimism around updating the way you work, there is often now a sense of scepticism and anxiety.

Based on our discussions with many CFOs, either they’ve tried it before, with disappointing results from the technologies or provider they worked with, or they’ve heard of negative experiences from peers and want to avoid making the same mistakes.

True finance transformation comes from a combination of process, system and cultural change. It doesn’t make good financial sense to spend thousands on a technology overhaul if your finance team cannot then use that technology. Likewise, a change in your business doesn’t count as finance transformation if your team still feels overworked, stressed and pressured at month end.

A successful finance transformation positively impacts everyone across your business on a day-to-day basis. It lowers your costs and allows you to reduce headcount, doing even more with fewer people. Not only this, but it gives you greater insights into your business, offering easy-to-use data and reporting, ultimately lowering risk to make you more compliant.

With competitors raising their game, now is the time to act.

What is finance transformation

In simple terms, finance transformation, of financial digital transformation, is the combination of process, system and cultural change across the finance operations of a business, which is then implemented through new technologies, training and analysis. As a practice, it is suitable for finance teams seeking to streamline, simplify and optimise their systems through a shift in their approach, to drive strategic value.

Many vendors claim to offer finance transformation, but what this often means is that they’ll sell you the technologies to update your internal finance systems, without the operations training that your team requires. Without enabling strategic change, this often reults is businesses might spend a lot of their budget on the latest technology without being provided with a complete roadmap to transform their systems.

In additiona, it’s easy to be persuaded by ‘quick-win solutions’ which may be more affordable in the short term, but which you will outgrow quickly. CFOs know they need to make changes, but it can feel overwhelming to initiate an “overhaul” when a simpler, more affordable solution might keep problems at bay for a while. These options regularly don’t scale with your company though, and merely tick a box to help you feel like you’re taking steps forward.

Over the long term, what many businesses don’t realise is that they are going to end up spending more money with short term solutions. Proper finance transformation is an initial investment, but over five years the way they are currently doing it works out far more expensive. Sadly, a lot of finance teams work on such a ‘hand to mouth’ way that they don’t often have time to look into better ways of working.

Feeling overwhelmed by your options

Having spoken to many CFOs, we see patterns in the things they tell us: for many, they recognise that their business needs to make a considerable investment but are reluctant to initiate it. Many businesses still rely on convoluted, outdated processes which are potentially damaging to their business – but the alternatives seem too immense to get a grip of.

Being able to predict future outcomes and planning for growth are two activities that often fall by the wayside because completing the current workload feels too all-consuming. This is a regular pattern for many organisations, many CFOs don’t know where they’ll be in the next three to five years, and instead they would like to be able to picture that. To get there, many need help accessing the appropriate technologies that are available and navigating in the right direction for their business.

How financial transformation looks practically

Some practical examples of the changes finance teams can expect from finance transformation include:

• Your finance processes and systems are standardised and automated to avoid error and increase efficiency.
• Your month-end reporting becomes automated, instead of a week or more spent creating a board pack.
• Further automation across business functions will ensure cost-saving opportunities across your department.
• Collaboration across the team becomes far easier: you’re equipped with a centralised finance data hub which enables collaboration.
• Opportunities to operate as a remote team – this means potentially lower wages and more savvy payroll planning.

Understandably, CFOs need a quick, reliable and thorough service. Their team requires training, onboarding, consultation and a ‘people element’ which is often missing from finance transformation offers – it’s a change in attitude as well as a physical process.

Want to read more?  check out our other blogs

How to get the most from your Digital Transformation journey

The growing role of Finance and Accounting in Digital Transformation and business success.

The post Finance Transformation – what is it and can I achieve it ? appeared first on bi5.

As a Finance Professional, at some point in your career you will be part of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. Those that have experienced one will tell you that it will be expensive, and time consuming, and possibly stressful, but if it’s done right it can be very transformative, and deliver significant value to your business through the improvements in your data and processes.

Very often the upgrade of an accounting or ERP system forms part of a bigger digital transformation project, where the other significant component is the implementation of an EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) solution.  It is here where bi5 Solutions is generally involved in the discussions, and the one thing we have picked up over the years is business uncertainty as to if they need both, and what the correct order should be.

When we talk to businesses about EPM and CPM (Corporate Performance Management), if they’re not currently in an ERP implementation process, there is often one in the pipeline, where it has generally been for a few years already.  No matter how pressing the need for upgrading their ERP, the business has often deferred the decision on platform and implementation several times, citing the time, effort and costs involved.

The deferral of an ERP implementation often further delays the digital transformation project, as the general view is that the ERP is the backbone and must be done first.  But we are here to say that is not always the case, and in many situations it makes more sense for ERP to not be first.  Why?  Well first let us look at the two systems.

Are ERP and EPM the same?

The short answer is no, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) has as its primary focus transactional processing, and transactional data, with end users being those who process transactions. EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) and its related CPM (Corporate Performance Management) are more of a managerial tool, with the focus on managerial information and data.

So what exactly are they?  Let’s look at each one in more detail.

ERP Systems – business operations

At their simplest, ERP systems are about operational efficiency. ERP systems help organisations run their operations and related processes, and it does this through automating transactional processes and flow.

For those that remember, the precursor to ERP systems were Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) systems, which as the name suggests were specific to manufacturing businesses.  In the 1990s the term ERP first came into use to extend the capabilities of MRP systems beyond just manufacturing businesses to encompass any ‘enterprise’.

ERP is generally referred to as a category of business software. They are most commonly a suite of integrated applications which businesses use to collect and store their business activity data. You’ve most likely been exposed to ERP platforms even if you didn’t know they were an ERP platform. They can help automate and track the below processes:

• Finance and Accounting
• Project Management
• Manufacturing
• Supply Chain Management
• Order Processing

The objective of modern-day Enterprise Resource Planning software systems is to help automate and integrate as many processes as possible across the enterprise, with the aim of improving efficiency in transaction processing and operations, whilst also providing increased accuracy and consistency across multiple functions of the business.  More recently ERP systems have added user experience as a key focus of development, with some even encompassing visualisations and metrics, in addition to their core transaction processing function.

EPM systems – business management

Where ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is about operational efficiency, EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) and CPM systems are focused on improving the management processes within businesses.  They are primarily used by management in the reporting and planning functions of an organisation to support management processes. Every business wants to see its results, and results are the outcome of decisions made by management, but how do you know if management decisions are actually improving business performance?  Through their ability to collect, integrate, and aggregate data from many disparate systems across your organisation (think ERP, CRM, HCM, IMS, HSE), EPM systems help to manage the processes of planning, monitoring and management of financial and operational results and performance, using both financial and operational data.

The lower your businesses organisational complexity, the lower your need for EPM. However as complexity increases, so does the benefits of an EPM system.  As you introduce additional product lines and groups, expand into multiple operations, regions, geographies, or currencies, your complexity increases, and this can impact the way data flows around the organisation. As your transactions increase, be that in type, details, or number, without the correct tools in place management’s ability to analyse all of this data and make decisions is limited.

Some of the key management processes EPM/CPM systems can help organisations automate include:

• Month End Close and Consolidation
• Financial Reporting
• Management Reporting
• Strategic Planning
• Rolling Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting – Financial and Operational
• Financial and Management Reporting
• 3-way modelling
• Analytics and Scenario Modelling

Is EPM a subset of ERP?

If you’ve ever started on the ERP software journey you’ll likely have heard a vendor say their products has inbuilt EPM (and BI) capabilities.  So does that mean EPM is a subset of ERP?  Quite simply no. Whilst some ERP software does have some EPM capabilities, as outlined above, ERP and EPM platforms are used for quite different things.  The end users of each will often be different, and the usage of each will be different.  You may be able to enter your budgets into your ERP, but can it do anything more than a simplistic budget? Can it do cashflow timing, driver-based budget entry, multi-level overhead cost allocation?

ERP and EPM are complementary

For those that don’t have an EPM solution a simple way to think of them is;

‘Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) will systemise the things that you currently do in Excel spreadsheets with data from your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)’

Both these software systems overlap. By now you hopefully understand that not every business will need an EPM and ERP solution. The more complex your business the more value you will derive from an EPM solution, because it adds an additional layer of information and analytical capabilities to your ERP.  In that sense they are complementary, without the transactions processing of the ERP there won’t be the data to report, analyse, and budget on.  Conversely, without EPM you will not be able to analyse your data fully and thoroughly, to compare performance against budgets and plans, and make decisions and allocate capital to improve your organisation’s performance.

Which comes first, ERP or EPM?

Understandably, any implementation of large systems designed to improve operational efficiency, such as ERP’s, are disruptive.  Anything that changes operations and processes will be disruptive. So how can you make sure it is as disruptive as possible? And if EPM and ERP are different, yet complementary, which should come first?

Organisations will generally prioritise ERP implementation, get the ERP in and then look at the EPM.  From organisations we’ve spoken with this is often driven by concerns that an EPM implementation needs a set ERP/structure to work off, and any change to ERP platform in future will incur additional costs to change the EPM. Sometimes EPM is not even considered as they have been sold on the idea that the ERP can do it all.

Hopefully you now understand that EPM is not a subset of ERP, and to get the full benefit of an EPM implementation you need a dedicated EPM system. However needing a ‘set in stone’ ERP to work off is rarely the case, and if your consultant says it is then we’d recommend finding a different EPM implementation partner.

A modern EPM solution is solely interested in data from the ERP. The structure of the data it is interested in can, and will, change over time. New accounts will be added, new entities, business units, products will be added, reporting formats and structures will change, these are all likely at some point with your ERP, and the EPM platform must, and will, accommodate that.

So not only do you not need to wait for your ERP implementation before commencing your EPM implementation, if you implement EPM applications before your ERP solution it may actually help keep time and cost down with your ERP implementation, which would make for a much happier CFO and finance department.

Below are the key points as to why we at bi5 Solutions always recommend organisations do EPM first, and how that can actually speed up your ERP implementation?

Cleanse your data with an EPM solution

One of the main reasons for an ERP implementation failing, or running over, is to do with the data.  There is no point in spending time and money on implementing a new ERP system to then go and put ‘bad’ data in it when you conduct your data migration process.

Cleansing the data post go-live is much more difficult and will take you longer than doing it before go-live. Post go-live there is much less urgency to correct the data, which is often why there is bad data there in the first place.  Depending on the quantum of incorrect data this can have impact your ability to use it for decision making later on.

EPM systems are often the first place that incorrect data it identified. There is barely an EPM implementation that we’ve done where the additional level of detail and analytics provided by the EPM platform hasn’t identified a data issue in the source/ERP system.  Often it is historical and hasn’t been picked up previously, sometimes it’s current and on-going and has been hidden or lost amongst the rush to get month end finished.

Migrate data with ease

Sometimes migrating data between your old and new platforms may be managed manually and require manual entry, or if you are lucky it can be loaded in via a batch file.  This is generally done at a point in time, where an opening balance is brought as the starting point of the new ERP. With an EPM platform already connected to your existing ERP this process can be streamlined. No more extracting from your ERP to Excel spreadsheet and then manually modifying it.  With an EPM platform your transactional data can be loaded directly into the EPM, any transformations or mapping between old and new accounts processed, and then written directly to a SQL DB, or extracted to a flat file (csv/xlsx) in an appropriate structure for batch loading into your new ERP.

Validate processes and historical data with an EPM solution

Once migrated to your new ERP, the data must be validated to ensure that totals match and that the processes have been set up correctly in your new ERP.  This can be a very manual and time-consuming process, often done in Excel. It is very likely you will need to continue until data and business processes have been validated, and the longer it takes to validate, the more you will need to validate.

The advanced analytics possible with a good EPM solution make them ideal for use in data validation, as they can provide high-level to transactional level detail within the same screen at the click of a button.  This enables you to identify high level numbers which may look incorrect, and then quickly drill down to see the transactional level detail that makes up those numbers.  There you can identify which transactions are incorrectly reporting and set about fixing them.

When it comes to matching or validating against historically reported numbers, with an EPM solution you can run multiple CoA’s (Chart of Accounts), in multiple hierarchies, and across multiple reporting formats and structures.  This capability allows you to load data from both your existing ERP and new ERP into the one EPM system, and report side by side in the same format, old or new. With data reported side by side you can very quickly see where new ERP data is not matching that previously reported.

Maintain historical data and reporting

When data is migrated as part of an ERP implementation you’ll normally only populate an ‘opening balance’ in your new ERP.  Your old ERP may have contained several years of data, but there’s a good chance that will all disappear when you migrate the data.  When that data goes so does your ability to analyse historical trends and patterns or compare multi-period values.

By implementing an EPM solution first all that historical data is captured and stored within the EPM platform’s central database, and will remain that way regardless of your future ERP movements.  As long as that data is there you will be able to report on it, and the flexibility of EPM solutions will enable you to view that historical EPM data in any new reporting format.

EPM will help identify your ERP requirements

As part of an EPM implementation there is often a roadmap put together. The aim of this roadmap is to identify all the data, integrations, and analytics that the organisation would like, so that the EPM solution can be developed accordingly. In doing so, multiple areas of the business must consider what information or metrics they would like to see, and what analytics they would like to have, in an ‘ideal’ solution.

Once this roadmap is developed it’s not unusual to find gaps in their current data. Where the metrics and analytics that one department has identified isn’t actually possible because the relevant information or detail isn’t capture within the ERP.

It is often not until the analytical piece is considered, that the real requirements of the ERP are determined, and it is often not until the first or second iteration of the EPM analytics where managers start to understand what is possible. It is not until managers use EPM for their analytics and budgeting that they start to identify other areas or analytics that they would like.  If this is not identified until after an ERP implementation has commenced it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to capture this data or detail in the ERP without adding significant time and expense.

EPM has a faster time to value

While an ERP implementation can take multiple years, a well-scoped and planned EPM project can take as little as a couple of months to go-live.  It is this fast development time that allows your EPM solution to be implemented while you’re still settling on your ERP upgrade process. Once you start your ERP journey your EPM solution is ready to assist with the items identified above, and with its flexibility new reports from the new ERP can be quickly developed and rolled out, ensuring you get more than just operational efficiency from your ERP implementation from the get go.

Even if you have already started along your ERP journey, it’s not too late to implement EPM software.  Not only will it provide all the benefits of an EPM software solution into the future, such as budgeting, forecasting, financial consolidation, financial close, reporting and analytics, as outlined above it can also help to ensure your ERP implementation project is a success.

Want to read more?  check out our other blogs

What is xP&A, and what was FP&A?

The post ERP or EPM….which should you do first? appeared first on bi5.

The quest for performance is a fundamental issue for companies and organisations, especially in an ever-changing economic and technological environment. To improve their financial performance, organisations must employ well-studied management strategies. In the field of FP&A specifically, that usually means implementing and strengthening best practices in the area of planning (budgeting and forecasting).

Uncertainty can take many forms. It can manifest in a natural disaster, the merger or acquisition of a competitor, geopolitical changes, or a global pandemic. In fact, the current (hopefully soon-ending) Covid-19 crisis has challenged the forecasting models used, especially when it comes to predicting the evolution of a company’s business in a highly uncertain environment.

Driver-based planning models enable companies to better understand the impact of variances in key business and value drivers on financial and operational KPIs. These models focus specifically on the drivers that have the greatest impact on business evolution.

FP&A Solutions in an Era of Uncertainty:

Driver-based planning is a financial planning and management approach that identifies an organisation’s key business drivers. It uses mathematical models that allow managers to run scenarios based on these drivers, which helps to understand the impact on projected business results.

Driver-based planning aims to focus efforts on the factors most critical to the organisation’s success. It, therefore, uses more advanced mathematical formulas, which model the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Models can be created with spreadsheets, or with more advanced data modelling software applications.

Business drivers vary from industry to industry. Drivers used to measure the level of activity include Market Share, Sales Volumes in Units, Number of Orders, Average Sales Price per Unit. With these business drivers, managers can save a lot of time and effort in creating and updating their financial forecasts. As a result, they can react more quickly in times of accelerated change.

 Continuous Planning and Rolling Forecast

Implementing a continuous planning process enables decision-makers to assess the company’s financial performance with more timely, reliable and accurate information. This agile forecasting tool improves performance through employee engagement and participation in achieving goals, while also supporting increased accountability.

Continuous planning helps managers react more quickly to potential problems. This innovative forecasting practice is based on making regular modifications in response to changes in the environment. Finance teams are not systematically tasked with an extensive re-forecasting process, but only need to make small adjustments. With more accurate and up-to-date data, managers can react more quickly and effectively to internal and external challenges.

Unlike annual plans, Rolling Forecasts are therefore a useful management tool and are not subject to the problem of traditional plans. With the rolling forecast method, companies develop a forecasting process over a rolling period (e.g. 12 to 18 months). The forecasts are updated on a monthly or quarterly basis, focusing on the most important variables “Key Performance Drivers”. In addition, the resulting forecast data is more up-to-date and reliable, providing the organisation with more complete information. This facilitates better decision-making.

Modern Flexible FP&A Systems

The finance team cannot be agile with a manual Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) process and system..

To react in real-time, managers need to be able to synthesise information from all data sources, discover trends, and provide insights more quickly. Practitioners emphasised the need for the FP&A team to have staff with data analysis skills, as well as technical skills in finance and accounting. In addition, a dynamic and modern solution is necessary for the agile transformation of FP&A processes.

Overall, companies that want to improve the effectiveness of their planning systems should place FP&A development at the top of the organisational priority list.

Conclusion

Unlike traditional management methods, Financial Planning and Analysis solutions are a new way to manage your business rationally. With the FP&A systems in place, business processes become more accurate and agile, preparing your company for the challenges and uncertainties of today’s economic climate.

The post Driver based planning – it’s not that hard appeared first on bi5.

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) which is an important function within the Finance area, is responsible for providing the organisation with the insights they need to make operational, financial, and strategic decisions. Specifically, the main objective of FP&A is to transform the company’s business performance using digital, data and analytics. However, one key component that acts as a backbone for FP&A performance is the Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

What exactly is a KPI? 

Why are the KPIs an important component in FP&A? What can organisations do to design and build a robust KPI framework and deliver improved business performance?

Let us first start by understanding the KPIs. A KPI is a quantifiable measure used to evaluate the success of the FP&A organisation in meeting its performance objectives. A good KPI framework covers the leading (predictive and prescriptive insights) and lagging (descriptive insights) metrics. Descriptive insights help to answer the question “what happened?”, predictive insights answer the question of “what will happen?” and prescriptive insights answer the question “what should be done?” Basically, if a business entity including the FP&A function is using KPIs to measure its performance, those KPIs typically drive business behaviour, results, and the organisation culture.

What is the business impact of KPIs? Why should the FP&A team pursue KPIs?  

In other words, strong FP&A performance management is based on the fundamental principle that “what gets measured gets done.” KPIs provide the visibility to measure and manage business performance.  Aberdeen Group examined the use of KPIs in more than 350 enterprises and found that the best-in-class companies derive performance improvements, including of 10 per cent increase in the time-to-decision making; 9 per cent increase in other  profitability and revenue  growth; and customer performance improvements of 9 per cent in both net-new customers gained and customer satisfaction.

How can an FP&A organisation design and build a robust KPI framework? 

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to choosing the “right” KPIs for your business. Building the FP&A KPIs framework that is specific to your organisation starts by formulating powerful questions. Questions are important as they provide the context to the insights or KPIs. One important factor to consider while formulating good questions is the framing bias. The framing bias is a cognitive bias that impacts decision making based on the way the question is formulated. Given that we are all influenced by the way the question is presented. For example, take two vendors whose quality of delivery needs to be assessed. One vendor performance says, “10 per cent defects” and another says, “90 per cent defect-free”. The framing effect will lead to us picking the second option because human beings tend to value options that are framed positively. Hence having the KPI definition i.e., “defect-free” or “defect prone” is very important as it impacts the data selected and ultimately the decisions made from the KPIs.

So how can an FP&A function implement a good KPI framework?  First and foremost, the questions in formulating the KPIs should be tied to the strategic objectives of the business – the value drivers.  Once the right questions are selected for the KPIs, three foundational elements discussed below should be factored in building a strong FP&A KPI framework. FP&A teams should be very careful in selecting KPIs because the wrong KPIs can potentially harm the organisation.

Reliable Insights. While there is a natural inclination in every business and in every individual to know more, one needs to evaluate how these insights from the KPIs will be used for making decisions. Albert Einstein once said, “not everything that can be counted, counts.” However, trying to analyse all the data to derive insights might be expensive and time-consuming. Instead, try forming a hypothesis or a logical proposition as the hypothesis will provide you with an indicator of what data to acquire whilst helping you to stay focused. Once a good hypothesis is formulated, design the KPI model, by asking these important questions for an accurate and deep understanding. Why do you want to know – articulate the root cause? How much do you want to know – the scope? What is the value of knowing and not knowing – the strategy to convert insights into actions? This begs the question on the recommended number of KPIs in the framework. Cognitive science researchers believe that human beings can normally cope with just five to nine pieces of information at a time and this figure is popularly known as the “Magic Number”. This means 7 +/- 2 KPIs (leading and lagging) is the recommended count of KPIs in the KPI framework or FP&A dashboard.

Accountability. While designing and implementing the KPI framework is complex, more challenging than that is realising the change; integrating the insights from the KPIs into a business’s operating model is very difficult. While change is inevitable, it can often be uncomfortable. How effectively can we use these insights and bring change in operations, compliance and decision making? How can KPIs be an active part of FP&A operations?  Successful change initiatives are often associated to accountability. This means having an accountable FP&A leader who is close to the KPI being tracked for performance. For example, if the KPI is on “Days Payable Outstanding (DPO)” to improve the cash conversion cycle (CCC), it is advisable to have the Account Payable (AP) Manger track and improve the DPO KPI.

Quality Data. Finally, reliable KPIs are dependent on quality data given that most businesses are plagued with quality data. Research published in Harvard Business Review says that just 3% of the data in a business enterprise meet data quality standards. But how do you define quality data? Data is considered to be of good quality if they are fit for use in operations, compliance, and decision making. In this backdrop, while quality data in business is contextual (based on time, location, data consumers, business environment, and so on) and multidimensional (such as accuracy, correctness, completeness, timeliness, and more), defining the context and selecting the pertinent data quality dimensions will help decision-makers trust the insights offered to them thru the KPIs and ultimately help them make better decisions.

Summary 

While many FP&A teams do a great job in identifying the consumers of the insights coming from the KPIs, unfortunately, the goals of the insight consumers are often not very clearly defined and do not align with the larger objectives of the enterprise. In January of 2019, research advisory firm Gartner reported that 80% of data analytics insights did not deliver business outcomes. One effective solution is formulating a good objective statement by asking questions, formulating a hypothesis, and defining the performance KPI framework based on the three key elements discussed above. Management guru Peter Drucker once said – “You cannot manage what you cannot measure”. In other words, insights from KPIs offer FP&A performance visibility, and visibility provides business value.

The post Measuring Performance with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) appeared first on bi5.

Digital Transformation is a hot topic and certainly getting a lot of attention, but many people are confused as to what it really means or only consider certain aspects of it.

To us at bi5, Digital Transformation is the use of new, fast and frequently changing digital technology to solve problems.  It is about transforming processes that were non digital or manual to digital processes. However it can mean different things to different people and to different businesses.  For some businesses it may be transforming from paper based record keeping to digital, for others it could be a transformation of their Excel based budgeting, and forecasting to a modern intergated CPM solution. For others it could be a transformation from bricks and mortar operation to an online market place/store.

However there is one key element that is common in all of these seemingly different transformations, and that is a using technology to improve and automate a manual process of some kind.  In all of the above transformations there is a move away from a more manual process to a digitally automated process.

• In record keeping it could be in the way the data is captured/verified (think bar codes/face recognition vs text entry), and the way it is filed/stored.
• In reporting it could be through removing the need for the finance team to manually extract/copy/paste data to reports, or to manually send out budgets to be completed, to an automated single click process that loads/processes/populates data ready for reporting or budget entry.
• For the online store it is a move away from requiring a salesperson to enter the sale details and collect payment to a digitally automated process.

As businesses move down the ‘digital transformation road’ more data become available, more data means more information, which in turn means better understanding and analysis and ultimately better performance.

So how do you ensure you make the most of your journey, and that the full benefits of efficiencies and improved information, understanding and analysis are realised?  The answer is to ensure as much of your business is transformed as possible.

Digital Transformation – who will benefit?

At bi5 Solutions we have been working in the area of Digital Transformation for over 10 years and from our experience it appears to generally be driven initially by the Finance team. Some argue, quite correctly, that ERP, CRM systems and Excel are Digital Technologies, as they are digital, data is stored as 1s & 0s. However what we are talking about here is transformation and automation of the processes that use the data that is collected in these systems.

We are primarily engaged by our clients to implement modern and integrated Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting, and Data Capturing systems.  The most common reason for our customers initially getting in contact with us is they seek much more automated, efficient, timely and flexible systems for the Finance functions within a business.

However, the clients that get the most benefit from this digital transformation are those who understand how this process can touch, and improve, all aspects of the business. When both Finance and Operations, and the whole organisation is involved the benefits are greatly enhanced.

Our most successful implementations are for those clients who really embrace the bigger picture of digital transformation beyond Finance.

As we have said in many of our previous blogs, at its core it is all about the data, and it is the integration of the data and automation of the processes that use the data that provides a complete story of what is happening in your business, and the environment in which your business operates.

A couple of real-life examples where digital tranformation has been fully embraced and the benefits acheived.

A large privately owned Transport Company operating across QLD and NSW.

They set out on their Digital Transformation journey 3 years ago as the company was going through a change. With the owners stepping back from day to day involvement, and realising how much of the decision making process was reliant on their experience and ‘gut feel’, they determined that had to change..

They had a vision to transform their business processes by using technology, and transform they did. Their entire fleet of over 500 vehicles were fitted with technology that enables them to monitor all aspects of vehicle performance and also the performance of the drivers. This included things such as speeding incidents, level of speeding, duration of speeding, and dashcam technology to measure driver fatigue incidents. This was great but in isolation it didn’t deliver the real benefits that they envisioned. It wasn’t until this  operational data was integrated with the financial data that the real benefits were realised

The data is updated automatically on a regular basis,and dashboards are used throughout the business to provide performance information to all the various departments. As  result everybody now understands how their performance impacts the overall performance of the business, through their ability to analyse driver performance, route, vehicle and customer information.

From the finance perspective they can now use this data for quick and easy what-if analysis and scenario planning, functions which are of even higher importance in uncertain times like those we currently face

According to the CFO, their overall performance and profitability was significantly higher than any of their competitors and he put it down to their use of technology of digital transformation of the company.

Another insightful example is Sydney Airports Corporation which was obviously seriously impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Because they had invested in a modern Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting system they were able to quickly, and with total confidence re-calibrate, their business for falling (or disappearing!) passenger and flight numbers, and incorporate the government’s JobKeeper and other initiatives into different scenarios.

A Mining services company operating in remote locations adopted a modern, digital based strategy from the outset. All of the equipment and vehicles which were critical to their business were capable of proving digital information on performance and whilst this data is somwehat useful in isolation when it is integrated into an end to end business system and feeds directly into financial systems like invoicing and other reporting systems it becomes so much more valuable.

These are just a few examples of how companies are benefiting from Digital transformation.

Fact-based decision making is critical in such situations and old style Excel based methods just couldn’t provide the level of detail or confidence necessary to make such major changes.

What to read more?  check out our other blogs

Finance Transformation – what is it and can I achieve it ?

The growing role of Finance and Accounting in Digital Transformation and business success.

The post How to get the most from your Digital Transformation journey appeared first on bi5.

Business Intelligence is big, it has been for a while, and there are a large number of platforms out there to choose between.  Decisions on BI implementation, in our view, often fail to recognise the importance of getting it right. Despite what many think it’s not as simple as comparing apples and apples. That is in part thanks to the prevalence of ‘Self-Service’ DIY type Business Intelligence.  So how do you ensure your BI implementation is done right and doesn’t end up costing you more in the long run?  That is through considering the Tech Debt implications.

So first….

What is tech debt

Technical debt can be thought of as a metaphor referring to all the consequences that arise due to poor or compromised development in software.  The consequences are generally with regards to the effort required to improve, enhance, or add additional functionality later on.

Just like with financial debt which we’d all be more familiar with, tech debt incurs interest if it is not repaid, and the longer we take to pay it, or the more debt that is allowed to build the greater the interest.  In a tech sense this interest relates to the amount of effort required to improve or increase functionality later on.

Sometimes real-life metaphors make things easier to understand, so let’s think of your software and tech debt in terms of the car. If you keep delaying getting your car serviced, over time the issues with your car will get more and more. We can keep driving the car with its issues, but it may be doing further damage, and also costing us more to run (much like we can continue with an inefficient process). Alternatively, we could take the car in for a service, but as we’ve waited so long for this service the volume of issues means we will be without it for a few days(much like your systems may be off-line while improvements are made, or functionality is added). We could rent a car that is cheaper to run (much like you can outsource your requirements), or you could go out and trade in for a new car (the same way you can invest in new software).

 3 types of tech debt

Accidental/unavoidable tech debt – Design was flawed and unable to easily add new features quickly/easily – but was not your fault or decision. Using our car metaphor this could be a product recall which was not your issue but does result in you being without your car for a period.

Deliberate tech debt – result of well-considered decisions. Where speed/time/cost is of most importance. Time: startups where time to market is important, or in our world where budget timelines must be met. Cost: where decide to go with the ‘cheap’ option for whatever reason.  This is like buying a small family car because that is all the budget allows, even though you know you will need a bigger car within the next year or two.

Developer tech debt – lack of skills/experience/understanding leading to poorly designed solutions that do not allow for future changes/amendments, changes to businesses etc.  This is like not considering the boot space in the car, and then after purchasing discovering the baby pram won’t fit in the small boot.

How can you limit it?

Accidental and unavoidable tech debt is as the name suggest, unavoidable.

Whilst Deliberate tech debt is a conscious choice, there are things that should be considered to ensure it is not higher than it needs to be.

Just like a family buying a new car, every business has budgetary constraints, so there will always be some element of Deliberate tech debt introduced. Not everyone has the budget to develop everything immediately, to purchase the software they will need in the future now, or to use  the most expensive consultants/developers out there.

So how can you work within these constraints to ensure you are not setting yourself up for further avoidable costs down the track?

In our view there are two elements that contribute to the avoidable components of Tech debt;

1. The choice of platform/software (deliberate), and
2. The choice of consultants/developer (developer skill).

A large part of Tech debt limitation comes down to the choice of platform. Some platforms are easier for the end user, others are easier to develop in. Some are cheaper and faster to ‘go-live’, whereas others are more flexible and are easier to amend/modify down the track.

Every business has different requirements of their software investments, different skills available internally, and difference paths they want to take with their implementation.  Understanding which platform is appropriate for which business is paramount in limiting Tech debt. Having access to consultants and developers who know multiple platforms, and understand the trade-off’s that exist between them, will go a long way to ensuring you select the product.  The product that is right for your business, right for now, and right for the future.

In addition to advising on the platform and product choice, consultants and developers are the main determinant of Developer tech debt. As we have been discussing, like all debt, tech debt is a long-term issue, and it can increase significantly over time if it is not managed.  Because of this it is important to ensure your consultants have not only the skills to develop within the chosen platform, but also the skills to understand your future use case, and where your business may be in 3, 5, or 10 years.

Consultants who take a longer-term view of the development and are focussed on ensuring their solutions deliver value well into the future will help to limit your tech debt. We believe consultants with both an understanding of the technical and financial/operational are perfectly positioned to provide this.  The financial and operational understanding allows them to easily understand your business, its processes and operations, and understand where it may be headed and how that will impact on the solution developed.  The can then easily translate this to the technical requirements of the solution, and incorporate these requirements back into the platform/software selection process.

Why does it matter?

For most of our readers and Finance professionals, getting into how to identify, value and manage Tech debt might be a bit too deep. Simply being aware of how you might introduce tech debt into your business, the future consequences of this, and how to limit it is what is most important.  However if you do with to delve further into Tech Debt (and the flip side Tech Equity, there is a very good article by McKinsey on exactly this.

But if Tech debt is ‘tech’ and not financial, why does it matter?

Because it costs money to reduce Tech debt, and it may cost your business if you don’t.

As businesses change in size and scale so do their requirements. The easiest way to understand is to think of accounting or ERP systems. Whereas once a small ERP system might have been appropriate, as the complexity and size of the business increases this ERP system may no longer be fit for purpose. Trying to make it work can require significant manual intervention, which often leads to data errors, resulting in reporting delays, and overall process inefficiencies.  This often results in a decision to change ERP’s.  Depending on the change this can be simple, or more often than not be a very slow and difficult process, with a significant cost involved, both for new licensing and the implementation.

Whilst we are not suggesting every business should start with the biggest and best ERP system, when selecting the platform, it is important to understand what you may require in the future, and determine how difficult, and expensive, it will be to add that functionality to the chosen platform in the future.

What about Tech Debt in Business Intelligence..

Business Intelligence is essentially visuals, backward looking analytics. It is not an ERP as used in the example above, or a car, so how does Tech debt relate to a Business Intelligence implementation?  In exactly the same way.

There are multiple Business Intelligence platforms out there, and nearly all of them will do what you want, but ensuring you select the best platform and implement in the correct way is still important in limiting your tech debt.  Anything can be changed down the track, but how hard will that be and how much will that cost?

When we get approached by prospective clients about implementing a Business Intelligence solution, the initial discussion is often around what they want now.  Often People are putting Business Intelligence solutions in place to meet an immediate need, without properly considering if that will be suitable later on.

BI is analytics, and in analytics the structure of the data is key to ensuring the required analytics are available. So having a consultant who can ask the right questions to get you to consider HOW you may want to analyse in the future is important.

Some things that should be considered are;

• Changes to business structure and reporting levels. Eg. whilst you may only have 2 divisions now, how many may you have in the future, will there be sub-divisions underneath these?
• Current ERP and likelihood of it changing. The ERP can significantly impact the options available to get data into your BI platform, which may then limit your choice of BI platform.
• Frequency of data updates. The frequency with which you want your BI analytics data to update is an important consideration in both the platform selection and data structuring.
• Chart of Accounts structure.  The Structure of your CoA (or lack of one) can determine how the data needs to be structured in your Business Intelligence solution, and how much ‘manual’ control you will need, to generate the reporting you require
• Dashboard and report commentary entry. Not all BI platforms allow for data entry, so you need to ensure the right platforms, or platforms, are selected.
• Self-service requirements. Do you want everyone to build their own dashboards, or do you want a central control which develops for release to the business.
• What-if/sensitivity analysis and Budgeting and Forecasting requirements. This is only possible in certain BI platforms.
• Users and access. The way in which you want to distribute dashboards and reports across your business, and the functionality you want in these will play a part in determining the appropriate platform

This is far from an exhaustive list, but hopefully it has given you a starting point for what you need to consider when selecting and implementing your Business Intelligence solution.

Related Articles

Four factors that influence BI success

7 Steps to get meaningful insights from your data

The post How does tech debt impact a Business Intelligence Implementation appeared first on bi5.

Globally, it is estimated that companies have spent more than $1.2 trillion on digital reinvention and digitalization over the last few years. The hard truth is that over 70% of those initiatives fail.

Shelving the next round of Digital Transformation projects is not the answer: digitalization is often essential to the value creation plan and, for Private Equity owners, to a successful, profitable exit. And the COVID-19 economy has accelerated and amplified the need for it.

What to do? Here is an overlooked idea: Turn to the CFO.

Digital initiatives have a lot of stakeholders: the chief technology officer, the chief information officer, the business department-specific lead, the software lead, human resources, the sales team, and so on. As the “bottom line” exec, the CFO is often left out of the tent. That is a big mistake as the CFO role is where everything comes together.

The CFO is not just a critical player to digital initiatives; the CFO is the crucial player in digitalization.  The CFO is the conductor that enables the disparate digital instruments to play together as an ensemble. In other words, the CFO’s central role in Digital Transformation initiatives is paramount.

Here are just 5 of the reasons why.

1. Successful Digital Transformation is data driven. 

The CFO is the champion of all enterprise data — the external data, the internal data, the historical data, and the employee data. But it is not just enough to have, share, and refer to the data; it must be analyzed, and Digital Transformation must then be aligned to it. That is why effective Digital Transformation demands more than a data dump; it requires an adequately structured data warehouse to capture the relevant inputs and a business intelligence tool to showcase them (in context). Enter the finance chief. It is the office of the CFO that is most knowledgeable about the critical data parameters of the business. Therefore, the CFO can best put a framework around the data — a framework vital in fueling the Digital Transformation strategy and completing the digital transformation process.

2. Digital Transformation increases risk. 

Of the many hats a CFO wears, controller of enterprise risk is, perhaps, the most critical.  Digital Transformation is an important tool to increase value, particularly in a post-COVID world. Still, company management must use that tool while being mindful of the risks surrounding it in the form of data privacy, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and other areas. There is no other executive who can walk the risk-to-reward tightrope as well, or as accurately, as the functional head of finance.

3. Digitalization demands centralisation.

The CFO has the best holistic, enterprise-level view. Digital Transformation initiatives are, either by design or by occurrence, siloed across multiple, separate business units, resulting in islands of initiatives that do not connect. As the keeper of the coins and the data owner, the CFO is best positioned to understand individual digitalization efforts and build the bridges necessary to align to a centralized enterprise strategy. Equally as important, she or he is also best positioned to build an external bridge — one that connects the company to the sponsor’s digital strategy across the greater portfolio.

4. Transformation has a timeline.

The CFO must make sure that the timeline is within the hold period. Most Digital Transformation initiatives — at least the kinds that are genuinely transformative — are not of the weeks-long variety. They take months and often years. And then, like every renovation/construction project, they often take time-and-a-half on top of that. That is “extra” time the sponsor or owner has not baked into the value creation plan. The role of the CFO is to help calculate a digital ROI strategy wherein bigger initiatives are broken down into smaller, more manageable, more return-rewarding phases. That ensures digitalization is not only in service to the business, but it is in service to the investors’ timeline as well.

5. The road to process transformation runs through finance.

The CFO must be its main architect and driver. Indeed, there are few places within the enterprise as ripe for Digital Transformation as finance, and even fewer business units where the impact of Digital Transformation will loom as large. As the jurisdictional and functional owner of many of the more antiquated, money-facing processes (order-to-cash, record-to-report, procure-to-pay), finance should be atop any enterprise transformation audit list. Of course, the digitalization of finance would be an impossible feat without the CFO’s guidance and involvement. But the CFO’s role as digitalization driver extends beyond its importance to successful finance transformation. As one of the first functional Digital Transformation stakeholders, the CFO will be an important example to peer business unit leaders with respect to the type of executive buy-in and in-the-weeds management necessary to ensure all digitalization efforts succeed.

What is the bottom line? For sponsors, it is not the overlooked importance of CFO leadership to Digital Transformation success; it is the inevitability of digital failure from their early and all-too-frequent omission.

The post Five reasons why the CFO is the crucial player in digitalization appeared first on bi5.

February 2020

If you’re a CFO or Financial professional and confused by the terminology and acronyms used around the Budgeting, Planning, Forecasting and Reporting platforms available to businesses then you’re not alone.  At bi5 Solutions we speak with professionals just like you on a regular basis and have realised how few know what these different terms mean, and differences exist between them.

So, to help we decided it was time to put together a list of the main terms you’ll hear when talking about Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting…BI, CPM, EPM, and FP&A. But by no means is this list final.  The one thing that is constant in today’s business environment is that of change, and this list will be no different. We will be updating a re-releasing this list as new terms arise, old ones disappear, and definitions change, so make sure you bookmark it..

BI – Business Intelligence

BI, or Business Intelligence, is by far the most familiar acronym out there, thanks largely to a product (almost) of the same name, Power BI.  Some say it’s the ’Umbrella term’ for all of the others, but this is where we find the biggest misunderstanding.  BI is predominantly (or only) about visualisation of the data. That is graphs and charts (ie. Dashboards) that add a further dimension to the numbers that are usually presented in Spreadsheets.

In many of the most popular BI solutions these visualisations are generally displaying historical data. This data could take many forms and be collected across the many the different ‘systems’ that exist throughout the business. ERP, Supply Chain, HR, Maintenance and so on. Whilst these systems do offer standard and some customisable reporting, it is often difficult to create user specific reports, and even more so with data stored across systems.

When you look at the market-leading BI products like Power BI and Tableau for example, and the way they promote themselves, they are all about presenting data in a better way.

And for some, that is exactly what they are after, pretty charts and nice dashboards.  However often the questions we get asked about BI systems are not, in fact, the realm of BI platforms, that is data-entry capabilities and what-if and scenario planning, important considerations when looking to invest in a Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting platform. These belong to one of the following …so let us introduce….

CPM – Corporate Performance Management

CPM software is primarily about addressing the Planning, Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting functions within your business.  It is primarily used in Finance departments and therefore focused on finance-related data. CPM systems are a much more capable replacement for existing Excel-based budgeting processes and provide functionality for better collaboration, workflow, integration and process that Excel was never designed to do, as we discussed in an earlier blog

CPM software has a back-end data store where relevant data from the various source systems is collected and integrated on a scheduled or as-needed basis.

A  key difference between BI and CPM is that CPM tools provide for Data entry which facilitates many functions like Driver-based budgeting and forecasting, what-if and scenario planning.  Pure BI tools currently available do not have a native data-entry capability to allow for these more advanced processes.

The majority of CPM software platforms available today include both a reporting and visualisation (ie. BI)  component for graphical scorecards and dashboards, in addition to their Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting function.

Corporate performance management (CPM) as a term was originally coined in 2001 by Gartner, the US-based IT research organisation responsible for a lot of these acronyms. Gartner describes CPM as “an umbrella term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise”.  However, with the increasing requirement for agile enterprise planning, Gartner have dropped the term since 2017 and reclassified it into, “financial planning and analysis (FP&A)” and, “financial close” to reflect two significant trends – increased focus on planning, and the emergence of a new category of solutions supporting the management of the financial close.

Next in the list is CPM’s ‘replacement’….

EPM – Enterprise Performance Management 

CPM can be thought of as the precursor to EPM, in fact for many the terms are used interchangeably.  However, as time moves on and business Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting requirements change so does the terminology, and sometimes purely for change’s sake.

Whereas CPM was mainly associated with largely Finance only functions, and a top-down driven process, EPM provides a much more agile Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting processes whilst also including Operations and other areas.

In the words of our favourite IT research organisation Gartner, EPM is defined as “the process of monitoring performance across the enterprise with the goal of improving business performance. An EPM system integrates and analyzes data from many sources, including, but not limited to, e-commerce systems, front-office and back-office applications, data warehouses and external data sources.”

EPM systems ideally manage organisation-wide planning, reporting and analysis (there is that overlap with BI as mentioned earlier).  It helps to bridge the planning silos that exist within a business and make planning a much more collaborative process.

At bi5 Solutions, we break it down into the following steps,

• Data collection and historical analysis
• Strategy Formulation
• Organisation level target setting (aligned with Strategy)
• Business Unit target setting (aligned with Organisation target)
• Business Driver target setting (aligned with Business Unit target)
• Measurement, management and re-forecasting

Different businesses have different needs and different strategies, and it is these which will determine how they leverage and utilise an EPM system within their organisation, but all businesses have a need for an EPM/CPM system.

We’ll now look at one of the new terms stemming from CPM mentioned above…

FP&A – Financial Planning and Analysis

To most people in Australia, hearing the words “Financial Planning” brings immediate thoughts of retirement planning. FP&A, however, is something quite different and is a term that is gaining a lot of traction globally.

As we’ve mentioned, Gartner has dropped the term CPM and now use FP&A and Financial Close as the grouping terminology for these software tools.

As the name suggests, FP&A starts with Financial Planning. This is the foundation for the success of any business and provides the plans by which the controller can capture, analyse, and plan the important financial aspect of their business. These could be aspects such as liquidity, maximising profitability, or increasing value to shareholders.

Then there is the A, the Analysis, that is the analysis of the actual situation.  By analysing the actual situation and comparing with the target/plan for financial objectives, we can arrive at a financial forecast.

FP&A is the intersection between finance and corporate management. It comprises all management measures for coordination within the finance division, and the intersection between finance and the service division.

FP&A also includes financial consolidation, enabling precise group reports, fast financial statements and comprehensive financial control.

There are many similar definitions out there however the common theme is about Finance acting as a Business Partner rather than a servant of the business.

Having covered the above we’ve decided we should also give a quick description of the most common system type of system out there, one that ‘all’ businesses would have.  That is…

ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning

An ERP system is quite different from all of the above, and not technically part of a Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting solution. But we at bi5 Solutions often get asked during a CPM/EPM implementation if it means they can get rid of their ERP system, so we thought it a good idea to quickly cover ERP.

ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning, is a term coined by Gartner back in 1990 and stemmed from inventory management and control in the manufacturing sector. Today ERP systems comprise other back-office functions like accounting, HR, procurement, project management to name a few.

They are primarily transactional systems which essentially ‘capture’ your day to day data, and are the main management tool used by your business to manage it’s day-to-day business activities.

Whilst the majority of EPM/CPM systems out there are essentially a customisable back-end (database) and front-end (user interface), which can be customised to do ‘almost’ anything, replicating your ERP system is not one that we would advise.

An EPM/CPM system would not replace your ERP system, but it would be an additional string to your bow, arrow in your quiver. EPM/CPM systems are specifically designed to be complementary to such ERP systems, and together with BI systems they enable you and your business to plan, budget, forecast and report and analyse ..to give you the intelligence you need to make better decisions.

The post Budgeting, Forecasting and Reporting..the terms CFO’s need to know appeared first on bi5.

Planning and budgeting are the navigation system of any business. Being aware where your business currently is, where it’s heading and where you want it to be in 6-months time is powerful knowledge that allows leaders to make decisions aligned with the company’s goals and strategies. CFO’s and managers can apply their knowledge and experience to these processes.

However, in today’s business environment many software tools have been developed that establish budgets and create plans. This allows CFO’s and managers to focus on analysing results and steer the company rather than performing low value adding tasks, such as creating budgets.

When deciding on which planning and budgeting software will suit the needs and individual aspects of the company the best, many CFO’s are solely driven by the requirements of the most basic features and lowest prices. Yet, it is important to consider additional aspects, not just price and capabilities.

The problem, that often influences these decisions is the lack of education and assumed lack of real tangible benefits. Many CFO’s are unaware of the difference a fully integrated and utilized software solution can make, compared to a solution that only operates on the surface of the company’s data pools.

Here are four common aspects CFO’s fail to consider effectively when choosing a budgeting and planning software solution for the business:

Price

Yes, we understand that the price of a software solution is one of the most important factors to consider. However, the price of a software solution doesn’t determine its capabilities, every business has individual needs and requirements that must be established separately from the price. Failing to do so leads to a software solution that won’t serve its purpose and ultimately be worthless to the organisation.

A tip on how to determine the acceptable price of a budgeting and planning solution is to calculate the return on investment (ROI).

The formula used to calculate ROI is as follows:

ROI = (Gain of Investment) – (Cost of Investment) / (Cost of Investment)

Depending on the industry your company operates in, the results can be rather tangible or intangible. It is up to you, as a person in charge, to determine which aspects are the most valuable to your organisation. Maybe it’s the monetary return a solution generates to your business, or it is the competitive advantage a software provides. Depending on how important and significant the return the software solution generates, is how the investment should be determined.

Consultant advice

A common mistake CFO’s make is to rely on their single professional opinion. Seeking advice from a business consultant specialised in business intelligence, an IT specialist or another professional can determine if your purchase will provide you with what you are asking for.

Sometimes a change of perspective will provide you with information that previously has been ignored or found unimportant. Collecting more than one professional opinion allows you to choose the best solution for your organisation without ignoring significant information.

Local support

Local expertise is important in any software implementation project. All too often, organisations deal with providers who do not offer many resources at the local level and who generally lack availability for your needs.

It is significant to have English-speaking personnel with both functional and technical expertise. Having written materials – training, user manuals and support – in the right language is also crucial.

Implementation

For most IT implementation projects, the team (both internal and external) is often the key to success. In this case, it is important to remember that finance managers will be the main users. It is therefore essential that these people be able to free up the resources to participate in the implementation, and that the software providers team have the following capabilities:

• Have an excellent grasp of budgeting, costing and financial dashboards; the team should be either trained CPAs or people with relevant experience;
• Be locally based so it can be available throughout the implementation process and, especially, to provide long-term support;
• Possess strong software knowledge so the organization can get the maximum benefit from its investment.

The post 4 common mistakes CFO’s make when choosing a planning and budgeting software appeared first on bi5.

Are you attending the Perth CFO Symposium?

The event will focus on re-engineering the role of the CFO. The event will look at the latest trends and developments relevant to today’s’ CFO’s ranging from Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Transactions, Cash Flow Management, Budgeting, Forecasting, Sustainability, Performance Management, Cloud Computing, Human Capital Management, Risk Management, Governance and other strategies specific to the CFO.

We are delighted to be attending in conjunction with our software partner BOARD International. During the event’s agenda, BOARD customer Andrew Hodgson from  Bankwest will present – forecasting in a complex and ever-changing environment  at 1245 pm .

If you are attending we would love to hear from you! Stop by to hear how we are enabling our customers to make better business decisions and for a chance to win a pair of BOSE noise cancelling headphones.

We hope to see you there!

http://www.perthcfo.com/

The post Perth CFO Symposium – July 12 appeared first on bi5.