Today s strategic role of finance

Transcription

1 Gael McLennan Financial Planning and Analysis Lead Microsoft Australia 13 th October 2014

2 Today s strategic role of finance Budget forecasting Compliance Efficiency Cloud Healthcare costs Lower CAPex Insure ROI, Manage TCO Security Lower Globalization or maintain CAPex Tight credit markets Control Talent operational Management and strategic risk Collaboration Social Mobility ROI / TCO

3 2004 3

4 Finance Journey to Partnership One Finance Operational Efficiency Outsource non-strategic activities Efficient Controls & Compliance Core Finance Single Master Data Source Consistent Taxonomies Microsoft Business Intelligence Power BI user-friendly tools Finance 2015 IMPACT TIME + GOOD DATA + TOOLS Outcomes built from partnerships

5 Why One Finance? Similar functions distributed across 100 countries Fragmented back-office Inconsistent use of Shared Services Varying procurement business models Differing control processes inconsistent control environment 75% of Finance controller s time & resources focus on transactional activities & compliance 5

6 One Finance 1 Mission Embark on a journeyof centralization & outsourcing of transactional activities together with subsidiaries so finance can focus on business insights and have IMPACT With 4 Objectives Increased Process Standardization & Controls Reduced complexity and outsourcing of non-strategic activities Efficient compliance processes that improve control environment Powerful business insight & performance management In 4 key areas Account Payable Procurement Accounting Statutory & Tax 6

7 One Finance Impact: The numbers speak for themselves 7

8 One Finance: The Benefits Consistency in processes Predictability in business rhythm Process documentation for all activities Cross pollination of ideas Better resource coverage All leading to better control environment & TIME back to the Microsoft Finance teams TIME 8

9 The Learnings 2: Adopt a partnershipbased approach 1: Focus on benefits beyond cost reduction 3: At Implementation create stabilisation roles and fill them with SME s 4: Emphasize benefits of technology in the BPO relationship 5: Don t expect perfection from Day 1. 9

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11 Core Finance Microsoft Culture drove...challenges in reporting/analytics....which led to new Business Intelligence Strategy Inconsistent Definitions, hierarchies, metrics & KPI s Flexibility at the Edge Finance has agility Self Service BI Encourages individuals to pursue full ownership Strong cultural resistance to doing things in a standard way 75% analyst time spent collecting & compiling data 78% reports created in offline environments Discipline at the Core IT Retains Control Single Master Data Source 350+ decentralized Finance Tools and Systems Standard Corporate BI Consistent Taxonomies ~$30M annual spend on shadow applications 11

12 Core Finance Success required focus in 3 key areas Integrated User Interface Most Visible layer to end user Huge impact on adoption Reliable Information Architecture Standard hierarchies, taxonomies & metrics in single master data source agreed with leaders Powerful IT Infrastructure World Class tools on reliable platform balancing strong user-level security and agility 12

13 What did Core Finance Deliver? Business Insight Portal Provides an access point for all standard reports and scorecards Scorecards Display tabular and graphical views of KPIs and metrics with drill-down capabilities Standard Reports Reports will enable more time to be spent on analysis 13

14 Core Finance Learnings Too much freedom and inadequate governance If data standards are unclear, duelling hierarchies will emerge Systems left unmanaged move from order to disorder and reporting will suffer Data Governance will be one of keys to the initiatives success. Data Quality can be hidden Analysts performing large amounts of data transformation to fix data quality errors hides the true system issues Change management is key Executive support, project management strength & engagement of stakeholders from across the organisation Involve your end users & pilot to learn prior to mass implementation The Power of Business Intelligence tools Releasing information to the business more efficiently & in a timely manner Powerful and familiar tools to drive engaging BI conversations

15 IMPACT

16 Activity Based Working

17 The Inhibitors to Business Partnership Bad systems Varying taxonomy Processing inconsistency Inadequate reporting and BI tools Staff Turnover 17

18 A few questions for reflection Are your finance resources spending TIME on the right things? Are they making up for DATA QUALITY issues or systems integration issues? Are your PROCESSES consolidated, efficient and documented? Do you have a SINGLE SOURCE OF FINANCIAL TRUTH across your organisation? Is your REPORTING insightful, reliable, timely and accessible by those that need it? Are you investing in your PEOPLE to develop the skills and environment they need to become trusted advisors to your business? The path to business partnership is a journey we will continuously evolve with our changing environment and business needs 18

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