The trend toward an effective partnership with internal stakeholders has been long in the making. However, it had been slow to progress. Now, we have a burning platform which can help FP&A executives advocate for a new type of relationship between finance and the business.
Nilly Essaides
Nilly Essaides is the Managing Director of Groups, Research & Insight at NeuGroup.
In the past, she was the Senior Research Director of Finance/EPM/FinOps Advisory at The Hackett Group. In that capacity, she devised quantitative surveys, analysed findings, built models, authored research reports, blogs, delivered webcasts, presentations and facilitated peer-to-peer exchange.
Ms. Essaides has nearly 30 years of experience researching, writing, and speaking about finance topics, with a focus on the way finance adds value to the enterprise through excellence in financial management and planning processes. Previously she led the FP&A practice at The Association for Financial Professionals.
Ms. Essaides is often quoted in the Wall Street Journal and other publications. She’s a prolific blogger with thousands of LinkedIn followers, and writes for external publications such as Digitalist Magazine. In addition, she co-authored a book about the internal transfer of best practices, If Only We Knew What We Know (Simon & Schuster, 1998).
Author's Articles
Integrated business planning (IBP) is not a new concept. Yet it’s still hard to find organisations that have fully embraced it, because their efforts have been hampered by the proliferation of legacy systems and data silos. IBP is characterised by aligned planning processes and calendars, full integration of cross-functional data, and cross-functional and business collaboration.
Business partnering is something everyone is talking about right now. The premise is that the more low-value finance tasks are automated, the more time finance practitioners have to work with their “customers” in the business. The only problem is that many business leaders are far from satisfied with finance’s performance to date as a valued business partner.
Advanced analytics is fast becoming a core enterprise competency. Organizations slow to develop it risk falling behind competitors. Companies need quick and reliable insight into the current and future performance of their processes as well as the evolving needs of customers. Advanced analytics is no longer the purview of companies like Google or Amazon. It’s a critical competitive differentiator.