How Digital CFO Aligns Finance and Operation Planning to Achieve Business Excellence

Breaking down the traditional silos between enterprise financial and operational planning processes is essential to deliver transformative business value.

Research from Gartner suggests that organizations that have invested in consistent and continuous planning beyond the finance domain into their operations will be better placed to withstand the challenges of business agility, resilience and mitigating the risks that are inherent in a more volatile economic climate.

McKinsey’s research, ‘A Better Way to Drive Your Business,’ shows that mature Extended Planning & Analytics (xP&A) processes can significantly improve coordination and reduce the number of surprises. When compared to companies lacking a well-functioning xP&A process, the average mature xP&A practitioner achieves an additional one or two percentage points in Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT).

Moreover, service levels improve by five to 20 percentage points, and planners become 10 to 20 percent more productive.

The right xP&A solution provides a view across the organization that gives greater visibility of the interconnected relationship between resources, capabilities and results. Teams can then use this information to better devise their business plans, KPIs and strategic goals.

When working well, XP&A provides three clear benefits: Accountability, Alignment, and Visibility in the planning functional areas below.

Human Resources: Workforce, headcount and staff: salary and compensation planning
Operations: Demand and supply chain: sales and operations; inventory
IT: IT projects and portfolio; budgeting
Marketing: Promotion and revenue; customer profitability; customer churn analysis
Sales: Sales forecasting; sales territory and quotas: sales capacity
ESG: Track sustainability reporting, breakdown or forecast against emissions targets to calculate product carbon footprints and use financial parameters like cost or margins to drive scenarios for simulation purposes.

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To find out more about how Digital CFOs link Financial and Business Excellence Action Plans, please download our latest E-Books via the links below: 

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