The meeting subject was “Building Winning FP&A Teams in the New Normal”, delivered by a truly international board panel of 5 members based in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the UK. Below is a summary of what was discussed on the day including a summary of the polling questions and answers.

FP&A Digitalisation was discussed at several FP&A Boards in the past but the recent mindset shift has changed the perspective. It went from anxiety before the implementation to peace of mind in fully controlling the processes and confidence in the quality of provided FP&A insights.

This article summarises the presentations and discussions during the recent Digital FP&A Circle on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have reduced the process burden, increased the speed of insights, and ultimately supported improved decision-making at Konica Minolta and Amazon.

Scenario planning came to the forefront and even these had to be quick, flexible, and adaptable. Our six panel members took us through how they had to adapt and change system and processes for the “New Normal”.

2020 has been a turbulent year and few departments have felt this as much as FP&A. We have been looked to as saviours of the company, guardians of cash, and stewards of planning, re-planning, and some more planning. It should also give cause to reflections on how we can improve and be ready for what comes next. 

A Global FP&A Trends Webinar that was held on the 10th November 2020 focused on why predictive planning is so important, especially in the uncertain times that we are living in.