This article addresses technology in FP&A. In his book "THE INNOVATORS" Walter Isaacson describes two ways of utilizing technology.  One way is artificial intelligence, machines thinking on their own.  Another way is augmented intelligence, people using machines to help organize information.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words… “Telling the story” is one of the most important tasks facing the FP&A professional, and data visualization is a powerful tool to reveal this story. Data visualisation is vital for FP&A analytics: it can help to reveal hidden trends and patterns, to filter out the noise and to generate valuable business insights. In other words, there are two types of data visualisation:

Nearly every financial planning and analysis professional understands the need to embrace big data and analytics. But how can firms move beyond basics to advanced analytics? That challenge was on every attendee’s mind at the recent FP&A advisory board meeting in London. There, FP&A and business intelligence professionals gathered to discuss the state of business intelligence (BI) and FP&A analytics with Nigel Geary, BI specialist at power utility British Gas.