In an ever-changing environment, dynamic and data-driven Scenario Planning is of critical importance. That means moving from traditional methods to an agile FP&A process, which can help organisations to navigate successfully through uncertainty.
Digitized FP&A Business Partnering is now the latest trend that is going well beyond just Finance involving the entire organization to move FP&A and planning to the next level.
Cultural change on FP&A is inevitable. As the world evolves, our cultural norms on business evolve too. The best way is to catch up with the speed of this daily evolving change is through scientific thinking. Now for our profession, data is the lowest meaningful element, such as an atom in a living organism. The advantage will favour the teams who will understand that indisputable fact and, we will witness the process closely in the future.
Being adaptive to changes in the surrounding world and changing yourself is the only way to progress today. Continuous transformation of planning and analysis approaches becomes a lifestyle. Digital Transformation forms a fundamental part of it. At the same time, changes bring risks and the only way to manage them is to be prepared.
These uncertain times demand increasingly agile and analytical Financial Planning & Analysis. How do we build FP&A teams that succeed in the world of ‘unknown of unknowns’?
The New Normal means that planning is no longer an extrapolation of the past. Similarly, business drivers that worked last year may no longer be relevant for the future. The reality is that organizations face multiple possible futures. Each one can be triggered by a crisis or an unforeseen event that will require the company to adjust or even change course.
So how should FP&A adapt to this New Normal?