FP&A teams are skilled at pulling data from various information systems, manipulating it, and gathering insights. Although FP&A plays a crucial role in supporting companies in becoming more intelligent, there is a lot to think about when getting ready for big data and the FP&A transformation journey. Below are a few things to consider. This list will continue to evolve as we all learn from each other. 

Now, more than ever, the FP&A profession stands to propel itself forward as the premier business partner for Commercial and Operational teams. While FP&A content trending today may center around technological advances, the focus herein will instead shift to the bedrock principle that defines the FP&A profession: striking the proper balance between analytical depth and high-level storytelling. 

Many Finance professionals have an incorrect perception of the word “insight”, but here is a simple way to validate if you provide insight or “just” data. Ask yourself, what decision a business can make based on the data you have provided? Insight is something valuable and not yet known by the business, but when known, the business uses it to make decisions that are data-driven.

The quality of a decision is a question about what data or lack of data the decisions are made on. So, let’s discuss what is a Data-Driven Decision and what is not, but also how do we make Fair Decisions. 

‘If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes’, said Albert Einstein.

A recent Accenture study showed that 79% of large company executives think that companies that don’t manage big data properly will get left behind. But, data alone is not what businesses are after. They’re after what they think data can do for them. They’re really after the insights they can glean from data that will help them improve their decision making and the actions they take to move their businesses forward.