We live in a modern, technological world where data, or more accurately insights from data, can drive competitive advantage. From identifying opportunities for optimisation and efficiency to generating a greater understanding of customers and prospects, it should be every company's aim to use their data to influence their decisions and future strategies to gain the advantage in their competitive market.

Machines thinking on their own present a number of anxieties in the workplace. Perhaps the most significant anxiety is the loss of work. Loss of work within factories is more than an anxiety, it is a reality.

On 11th May 2017 the Zurich FP&A Board gathered 36 senior finance practitioners from such leading local and global companies as Barry Callebaut, Cembra Money Bank, Citrix, Credit Suisse, Ecolab, EF Education First, GE, Gedeon Richter, MAN Diesel & Turbo, Medtronic, Quintiles IMS, Swissport, TE Connectivity, Xylem, etc.  The important subject of Effective FP&A Organisational Structures became the main focus of the third FP&A Board meeting in Zurich.

Keeping your company at the forefront of its field means having the ability and confidence to make hard-fast decisions. Success depends heavily on making the right decisions and executing them with speed and efficiency, giving you a serious competitive advantage over the market. EY conducted a survey that revealed 81% of senior executives indicated they needed to improve their decision making speed and get greater insight on their business.

Some time ago, the FP&A Board in London saw members debate whether fancy business intelligence (BI) software tools are a wise or even necessary investment. The general consenus was that boardroom members often don’t want to see complicated graphs, instead preferring to see the numbers in a flat 2D table. “I’ve worked for a chief financial officer [CFO] who hated graphs,” said one senior FP&A professional. “As a finance person, he wanted numbers, not graphs. He even got his PA to print off a dynamic clickable dashboard I produced! A lot of a presentation depends upon who you are presenting to. I’ve certainly adapted my technique and tools depending upon who is listening.”

In this episode of the FP&A Trends Series, Toby Burton, CFO  (Global Circulation) at The Economist Group and a member of the London FP&A Board, shares his insights on how FP&A helps to drive the profits of The Economist’s Circulation business. This is a great example of how flexible and dynamic FP&A can help organisations to succeed in such quick and competitive business environment.

Businesses have long recognised the importance of using data analytics to improve the customer experience. The focus on customer-orientated analytics has, however, resulted in businesses failing to harness the power of their data to optimise their operational processes and significantly improve margins – although this is changing.

Analytics runs all business, yet it’s so often obfuscated. To make it real is a journey of discovery – first, establish a hypothesis, second, build an understandable context and third, act after you have continued to question the problem to conclusion. It’s a Tsunami! Data is estimated to be doubling in size every 2 years.

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) is gaining more and more attention from business leaders. Its focus is the future of the business. The FP&A professionals who work as Finance Business Partners understand basic accounting and reporting, yet their strength is in being from different ‘walks of life’.

An undisputed fact: data is the key to unlocking the potential of your business. It contains the insights to drive growth, generate efficiency and put you ahead of the competition. It is increasingly evident that using data to influence decision making in every aspect of your company will result in greater success. However, many businesses, both large and small, are intimidated by data.