IBM Global Business Services. Financial Management. Consulting Services

Transcription

1 IBM Global Business Services Financial Management Financial Management Consulting Services

2 Confronting globalization, complexity and risk Chief financial officers (CFOs) are in a highly visible, highly influential position. They re not just keeping the books they re architecting change, influencing strategy and driving business value for the larger enterprise. CFOs have always been the stewards of financial and business data for the enterprise, but now they ve got to do more they must leverage this critical data to deliver insight into business performance, risk and growth. And it s not easy. Organizations are increasingly complex, with different geographies, technologies and lines of business to navigate. And fragmented processes, systems and data make it difficult to gather the business information that CFOs are tasked with delivering. Many of the challenges stem from business changes, such as inadequately integrated acquisitions, rapid expansion into new marketplaces and business model innovation, that leave companies with disjointed, localized processes and siloed information. The difficulty in aggregating data and leveraging it successfully, in turn, inhibits CFOs from adequately estimating strategic and operational risks, leaving many unprepared to address rapidly changing regulatory, geopolitical and economic factors. In addition to fragmentation-related challenges, CFOs also struggle to find and retain professionals who have a balance of the advanced business and technical skills (transactional knowledge and the ability to drive efficiency) as well as soft skills (critical thinking skills for driving growth, for example) that today s finance organizations demand. Plus, CFOs have to balance newer demands with their more traditional responsibilities. Most finance organizations still need to devote almost half of their time to transaction processing. And the continued focus on regulatory issues requires the investment of significant resources to remain compliant. 2

3 It s no wonder that the majority of finance organizations haven t been able to successfully transform from a transactionally focused model to a strategic model that is globally integrated and capable of flexing based on changing business drivers. According to the IBM Global CFO Study 2008, today s most successful finance organizations have an enterprisewide common data definition, a standard chart of accounts (COA), standard common processes and globally mandated standards. In fact, finance organizations built around these four criteria typically experience revenue growth rates double those of industry peers. 1 By adopting enterprisewide process and data standards, finance organizations can begin to simplify enabling systems and delivery models, and establish governance to create an integrated finance organization (IFO) for greater efficiency. An IFO, equipped with the right enabling technologies and delivery models, can deploy and execute finance activities more quickly. Moreover, enhanced flexibility makes it easier to adjust the business to marketplace drivers. 2 When everything is connected work flows to the places where it can be done best. 3 The IBM finance organization transformation success In 1994, the IBM finance organization, which consisted of a decentralized structure with individual offices using disparate financial systems, was inefficient and not seen as a significant source of value to the company. But by transforming into an IFO over the years, the organization has realized incremental quantitative and qualitative results: Consolidated from 67 to 6 data centers Reduced the number of key applications from 145 to 44 Cut the days for accounting to close by 62 percent Established a common chart of accounts Increased data consistency, integrity and reliability Improved ability to accommodate changes through greater business flexibility Gained the ability to provide data more quickly to those who need it Enabled finance to focus on analysis and business issues by integrating financial and nonfinancial data Sam Palmisano, CEO, IBM Corporation The IBM Global CFO Study 2008 reveals that moving toward the development of an IFO is a critical step for companies that want to transform passive data into business insight that can be used to respond quickly to business needs. To create highly effective IFOs, organizations need to start by establishing global standards through process ownership and by simplifying enabling systems and organizational structures to facilitate faster deployment and execution of financial activities. 3

4 Financial management consulting from IBM It s a tall order. CFOs have to drive efficiency and effectiveness in delivering insight while maintaining regulatory compliance and remaining as stringent as ever in their traditional bookkeeping activities. But they don t have to struggle to do so alone. IBM offers comprehensive financial consulting services to help CFOs face these challenges and deliver business value. A trusted ally to CFOs worldwide, IBM has the capabilities needed to transform fragmented finance organizations into flexible, agile IFOs that are better prepared for helping businesses thrive in the unpredictable global marketplace. IBM delivers comprehensive solutions including strategy, process, applications, infrastructure and technology through its offerings in critical financial management focus areas. Solutions that help CFOs address new risks and challenges, drive enterprisewide profit improvement and increase shareholder value. Finance transformation In addition to managing risks, increasing organizational agility, and tackling organizational skill and leadership deficiencies, CFOs must focus on cost cutting and profit improvement. Finance transformation services, which include finance strategy and finance operations improvement, are at the core of the IBM financial management solution set. These services combine expertise, process transformation approaches and technology innovation to help hasten the journey to becoming an IFO, while delivering cost savings and helping to reduce risks. Finance strategy services Designed to help develop a vision, strategy and blueprint to support the changing business needs of the enterprise. Using diagnostic and strategic tools, IBM can identify process gaps versus leading industry practices. We can then readily identify business components that can be standardized, centralized or even outsourced. Our approach helps CFOs define the optimum finance operating model and identify potential improvement. Drawing upon its financial management expertise, industry-specific knowledge and practical implementation know-how, IBM can help transform a finance organization s capabilities so that it becomes a valued business partner within the enterprise. The specific services IBM offers include finance function and blueprint, finance diagnostic, strategic profit improvement/cost effectiveness and rationalization, and finance process benchmarking/ APQC alliance. Finance operations improvement services Designed to help finance organizations execute their strategic plans. IBM can help redesign key business and financial processes, restructure organizations to improve overall efficiency and responsiveness, and more efficiently manage tasks that don t add value through outsourcing and shared services. Some of the services offered include finance process design and reengineering, finance organization design, skills and competency rationalization, shared services design and implementation, and financial process outsourcing implementation. Business performance management Our business performance management services are focused on helping finance organizations leverage their information assets to support and enhance business planning and performance. IBM can help CFOs unleash the power of their financial and enterprise information and business intelligence by implementing the processes and systems needed to integrate information across the entire value chain. Using our holistic strategy for design and implementation that encompasses people, process, information content and technology transformation, IBM can help link performance measures with strategy and apply these measures in a timely, cost-effective manner, while delivering role-based intelligence to executives, managers and information consumers. For example, IBM can implement business performance management solutions that provide access to real-time information to improve decision making. We can also help organizations integrate information to gain further insight into operational profitability and return on capital based on product, customer and region. And IBM can leverage tools and applications to perform a what if analysis and scenario planning to derive forward-looking information to support plans and forecasts. 4

5 Business risk management IBM can help CFOs identify, assess, manage and optimize business risks, taking a comprehensive approach that integrates risk and compliance management into the overall business strategy and execution. Our framework is designed to help finance organizations evolve from baseline compliance to an optimized risk management model in which the value of risk management far outweighs the costs. Effective risk management leads to numerous benefits, including lower cost of compliance, improved stakeholder confidence, lower cost of capital and loss avoidance. Plus, optimized risk management provides increased transparency into business operations, which can result in enhanced decision-making capabilities and proactive risk mitigation; faster, more robust processes; and streamlined reporting. IBM offers comprehensive services across the risk management maturity continuum. Services include marketplace risk analysis and modeling; credit risk management; operational risk management; Sarbanes-Oxley process design and tools; Basel II gap analysis and enablement; governance, risk and compliance (GRC); enterprise risk management strategy execution; and risk-driven performance management. Finance enterprise applications Our finance enterprise applications services are designed to help finance organizations design, architect, select, implement, integrate, manage and realize the benefits of technology solutions across the enterprise. IBM maintains strong vendor relationships in fact, we re a repeated recipient of the SAP Award of Excellence and the Oracle Partner Award. Working closely with alliance partners, IBM can meet an organization s core financial systems needs, including the implementation of new enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications as well as shared services and outsourcing solutions to improve the effectiveness and lower the cost of operations. 5

6 Client success stories Large equipment manufacturer A leading manufacturer of construction equipment was struggling with an inefficient supply chain. Costs were increasing as fast as revenues, limiting business growth. The company was running multiple financial reporting systems that required the administration of more than 11,000 controls companywide. The chances of miscalculations were high, and the existing approach created significant hurdles for managing GRC. The company sought a way to improve supply chain processes and reduce risks. It created a long-term vision for its finance department with critical success factors that included faster, more accurate reporting. IBM Global Business Services used a combination of IBM solutions and methods, including the IBM Ascendant methodology, to implement SAP applications, including the SAP solution for GRC. To ensure that the company s Six Sigma methodology was aligned with the Ascendant methodology, IBM conducted several workshops. The project involved a combination of onshore and offshore resources. With IBM s help, the company reduced its number of general ledger systems from more than 30 to just one and reduced 300 feeder systems to approximately 50. It also expects to lessen the number of controls to approximately 500. Now the company can obtain a single version of the truth for both internal and external reporting. The ability to forecast more accurately resulted in less product allocation, and the company has achieved significant cost savings through greater process efficiencies. 6

7 Aerospace company A leading aerospace company had a vision to make finance and accounting a true partner in the business by shifting focus to value-added activities. Recognizing that existing financial processes and systems did not support the strategic objectives, the company turned to IBM for help with the transformation. IBM worked with the company to identify the strategic capabilities of its finance organization and examined how to streamline, simplify or standardize supporting processes for key capabilities. IBM compared the company s practices and capabilities with best practices in accounting, transaction processing, close and consolidation, reporting and analytics, and other key areas. Based on the results, IBM identified and prioritized improvement opportunities and developed a business case for moving forward. It also guided the development and implementation of new processes and systems to reduce the time and risk involved in solution deployment. Overall, the company simplified and standardized six work streams, making it easier to partner with the business: Rationalized its chart of accounts, reducing it from more than 15,000 to less than 1,000 Moved from five consolidation systems to a single level of consolidation Reduced close time from 12 days to 5 by standardizing and monitoring compliance and close procedures Reduced the use of spreadsheets for statutory data gathering by 75 percent by implementing common tools for data capture Financial institution Wrestling with poor overall bank efficiency and a high cost of finance, a North American financial institution needed to transform its finance organization. The institution used applications from multiple vendors, and report production required labor-intensive manual processing and restatement processing. Overall, the company s approach and inefficient systems architecture inhibited it from adapting to changing marketplace drivers quickly and provided multiple versions of the financial truth. IBM Global Business Services used the IBM finance transformation strategy methodology and finance component business modeling techniques to develop a vision for a first-class finance organization with a flexible architecture, efficient processes and strong governance. IBM provided the institution with a three-year roadmap to achieve an enterprisewide target-state financial system architecture, as well as a business case supporting roadmap investments with detailed cost and resource estimates. The project identified millions of dollars in potential finance savings. Major United States government department Lacking a centralized financial system, a large U.S. government department was relying on disparate legacy solutions to manage, process and track more than 150 programs and 100,000 individual grants. As the systems became increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, the department sought an updated and integrated solution. Consolidated more than 30 discrete general ledgers into one across the enterprise 7

8 IBM Global Business Services integrated virtually all administrative and program processes and systems within the department, implementing a new financial management systems software (FMSS) Oracle Financials solution to provide centralized management of all programs and grants. Over the course of the project, the IBM team provided project management, process analysis, fit-gap analysis, application configuration, interface design and development, data cleanup, data conversion, testing, training, cutover planning and postimplementation support. The IBM solution has enabled the client to significantly reduce its maintenance and operational costs, leverage timely and more accurate financial information, and enhance its data collection and reporting capabilities. Plus, the integrated solution strengthens and enforces the department s internal controls and policies for administering billions of dollars in government funds. Why IBM? Whether a finance organization needs guidance in planning its business strategy, acquiring the tools to measure performance more accurately or becoming an IFO to transform its operations, IBM can help. IBM Global Business Services is one of the world s largest consulting services organizations, with expertise spanning a full range of key business issues in virtually every country. And with more than 4,100 financial management resources located around the globe, IBM has a strong record of serving as a trusted adviser to CFOs and finance leaders. Our financial management services experience is vast. But our approach truly sets us apart. IBM has a real commitment to collaborating closely with CFOs to help them manage complexity, balance risk and drive profitable growth. We bring custom-tailored multidisciplinary teams to each engagement, offering a future-oriented perspective combined with here-and-now practicality. When it comes to unlocking value across the enterprise, we re the experts. Copyright IBM Corporation 2008 IBM Global Services Route 100 Somers, NY U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America June 2008 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ( or ), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at Copyright and trademark information at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates. 1, 2 Balancing Risk and Performance with an Integrated Finance Organization: The Global CFO Study 2008, IBM Global Business Services, October Palmisano, Samuel J., Leadership, Trust and the Globally Integrated Enterprise, Executives Club of Chicago, April 12, 2007, sjp/04_12_2007.html. For more information To learn more about IBM Global Business Services financial management consulting, contact your IBM representative or visit: ibm.com/gbs/finmgmt GBB03022-USEN-01