First and foremost, Best-in-class FP&A is about agility. Accordingly, it specialises in the ability to orient planning activity around the needs and cycles of the products and services provided by the organisation. With a constant flow of urgent demands leaving little time to make changes, finance teams need practical advice on how to digitally transform FP&A.
Organizational agility often faces a considerable barrier: unaligned top-down and bottom-up planning processes. Why does this gap exist? How can we bridge it, and what role does technology play?
Corporate Performance Management (CPM) has long consisted in breaking the company’s strategy down into operational objectives and indicators, measuring the achievement of these objectives against operational entities' budget or forecast and take action on that basis. This approach was effective in a stable business environment, with slow and controlled changes.
The vast majority of companies still rely on traditional organisational designs characterised by hierarchical structures, and steering with budgets. But these designs are outdated, severely limiting a company's ability to act and respond in today’s fast-changing environments.
How can organisations operate viably in this age of uncertainty?
One of the biggest barriers for organisations to increase agility comes from unaligned top-down and bottom-up planning processes.
Although the world remains locked in battle with Covid-19, we are starting to emerge from survival mode and to consider our post-pandemic future. This means figuring out what's here to stay from the past 18 months, and what needs to change. One thing is certain, though: we are not going to continue where we left off in 2019 and 2020.