Business Process Services. White Paper. Connecting the Dots: Aligning Financial Goals with Operational Efficiencies

Transcription

1 Busiess Process Services White Paper Coectig the Dots: Aligig Fiacial Goals with Operatioal Efficiecies

2 About the Author Shirley Kamath Shirley is a Chartered Accoutat ad law graduate ad is curretly maagig a corporate iitiative for 'Simplificatio of Iteral Processes' at Tata Cosultacy Services (TCS). Backed by her expertise i Fiace ad Accouts ad experiece i IT, she has successfully led may trasformatio projects. She has also bee istrumetal i TM desigig FORE, TCS' trasformatio framework. Shirley has over 20 years of experiece spaig both IT ad BPS, ad her areas of expertise iclude ERP implemetatios, ad process ad techology cosultig.

3 Abstract As busiesses face greater complexity ad ucertaity i their ecoomic eviromet, every fuctio eeds to rethik its role ad realig its objectives with orgaizatioal goals. This is especially true for the fiace fuctio. Today, the role of fiace exteds beyod trasactio processig, accoutig, ad reportig. CFOs are beig called upo to become strategic busiess parters who support ad drive growth. They are resposible for defiig ad applyig clearly defied objectives ad milestoes that lik operatioal efficiecies with busiess outcomes. This white paper outlies the importace of beig part of the 'big picture' i buildig a effective fiace fuctio, ad how fiace fuctios eed to traslate fiacial objectives ito clear operatioal targets. It recommeds a two-proged approach top-dow ad bottom-up to create ad sustai value for the orgaizatio. The paper illustrates how CFOs ad fiacial executives ca alig their objectives with operatioal efficiecy.

4 Cotets 1. Itroductio 5 2. Aligig fiacial goals to overall busiess goals 5 3. Buildig a fiace fuctio o a strog foudatio 5 4. Makig the coectio: Likig fiacial ad operatioal performace 6 The top-dow approach to decisio makig 6 The bottom-up approach to executio 7 5. Sceario: Optimizig workig capital 7 Usig the top-dow approach to idetify factors impactig workig capital 7 Usig the bottom-up approach to idetify a solutio 8 6. Creatig a backdrop for greater fiacial ad busiess aligmet 9 7. Coclusio 10

5 1. Itroductio The objectives ad goals of the fiace fuctio have evolved over time, ad today it plays a critical role i shapig the overall busiess strategy. Fiace is ot oly expected to offer trasactio-processig, cotrol, plaig ad fiacial reportig, but also to eable decisio-makig activities for the busiess. Therefore, i order to esure collective success, CFOs caot just focus o their fuctioal role. They also eed to cosider operatioal ad process-related challeges, alog with the overall busiess impact of each decisio. Such challeges iclude complyig with the ever chagig, icreasigly striget regulatory requiremets, ad aligig with a complex ad dyamic busiess eviromet. However, to achieve this balace, fiace fuctios will eed more tha just the support of efficiet trasactio processig systems. CFOs eed to arm their fuctios with relevat ad timely iformatio ad frameworks for makig strategic decisios, ad to idetify operatioal opportuities with quick actioable isights. 2. Aligig fiacial goals to overall busiess goals I the curret ecoomic ad busiess sceario, CFOs are o loger see as oly cotrollers focused o recordig ad reportig umbers, but as strategic stakeholders i the orgaizatio. Thus, CFOs are required to uderstad their orgaizatio s strategic goals ad alig them with their fuctioal objectives. This aligmet is imperative i order to direct employees to realize missio-critical objectives through the right operatioal approach i effect operatioalizig the goals. To effectively operatioalize busiess goals ito fiacial goals requires the orgaizatio ad the CFO to collaboratively desig the right aligmet practices. This requires a two-way flow of iformatio ad uderstadig while busiess plaers must evaluate the impact of the strategy o fiace, CFOs eed to help middle maagers ad frot-lie associates uderstad how their short-term targets traslate ito strategic impact for the orgaizatio. 3. Buildig a fiace fuctio o a strog foudatio To create a effective fiace fuctio that drives sustaiable value for the busiess, there are o ready-to-use or oe-size-fits-all solutios. While requiremets may vary across orgaizatios, there are some fudametal questios that must be aswered to desig the right solutios ad derive the targeted beefits: Are the visio, goals, ad value drivers of the orgaizatio well defied? Are the performace measures of the fiace fuctio (busiess KPIs or metrics) clearly defied ad commuicated? Are the performace measures liked to the goals ad drivers of the orgaizatio? 5

6 Is there a process to regularly capture ad aalyze the treds i operatioal performace? Are the performace measures regularly compared ad bechmarked with peer groups ad idustry leaders? Is there a regular mechaism to review idustry treds ad leadig practices to idetify opportuities to improve performace? The suggested approach i this paper helps orgaizatios aswer these questios affirmatively ad derive more value from their fiace fuctios. 4. Makig the coectio: Likig fiacial ad operatioal performace The performace of the fiace fuctio is iextricably liked to that of the orgaizatio; fiacial decisios caot be made i silos without cosiderig the impact ad ifluece o operatioal goals. It is therefore critical to idetify fiacial performace measures to balace strategic priorities ad operatioal eeds. We suggest a twoproged approach a combiatio of top-dow ad bottom-up methods. Correlatig the objectives derived from the top-dow approach to actioable requiremets derived from the bottom-up approach helps traslate fiacial objectives ito operatioal targets for the busiess. The top-dow approach to decisio makig This approach starts with a soud uderstadig of overall orgaizatioal goals ad subsequetly the operatioal requiremets to achieve them. Decisio makers from fiace fuctios eed to: 1. Establish the correlatio betwee fiacial goals ad process performace i other words, establish the busiess metrics. For example, the busiess may eed to improve liquidity maagemet to meet the goals of optimizig workig capital ad improvig cash flow. 2. Idetify key operatioal metrics by establishig a correlatio betwee the metrics ad operatioal targets. For example, the key metrics that impact workig capital ad cash flow are day sales outstadig (DSO) ad day payable outstadig (DPO). This helps zero i o the process areas that eed to be addressed ivoice processig, disbursemets (AP), billig, ad cash maagemet (AR). DPO is impacted by the percet of ivoices paid o time; DSO o the other had depeds o the collectio effectiveess idex, which is the percet of uapplied paymet. 6

7 The bottom-up approach to executio This approach assesses the processes that are impacted, ad helps idetify leadig practices that ca positively ifluece operatioal metrics. For this approach, decisio makers should: 1. Idetify the uderlyig high impact processes ad establish a cause-effect relatioship betwee the operatioal metrics ad processes. I the above example, DSO is iflueced by some of the back office processes pertaiig to accouts receivable such as customer master maiteace, customer billig, collectios, cash applicatios, ad customer credit ratig. 2. Leverage best practices that impact operatioal metrics to build a sustaiable platform for drivig busiess metrics. 5. Sceario: Optimizig workig capital Cosider a orgaizatio tryig to optimize workig capital, which is a importat idicatio of operatioal liquidity that impacts overall orgaizatioal performace. However, this metric might ot mea much to teams hadlig accouts receivable or accouts payable operatios. These employees may have little or o idea of how their work cotributes to the orgaizatio s et cash flow. The failure to uderstad such implicatios at the orgaizatioal level meas that they view issues with paymets receivable as simply a matter of delay ad ot as a reductio i workig capital. Let s apply the suggested methodology to this example. Usig the top-dow approach to idetify factors impactig workig capital As a first step, we eed to moitor DSO ad DPO to optimize workig capital through daily operatioal metrics. The ext step ivolves the idetificatio of factors drivig DSO ad DPO performace. Further aalysis ca help derive the operatioal metrics ad challeges that impact DSO such as: Delays i billig Agig of receivables ad delays i collectios Iaccurate customer credit aalysis or ratig DSO may also be iflueced by metrics such as the percetage of: Bills raised o time Receivables past the due date Receivables past 90 days of the due date Bills uder query 7

8 Figure 1 illustrates how operatioal metrics ad challeges ca be derived from strategic goals. Strategic Metrics Metric aliged with Strategic goals Busiess Metrics Effectiveess Measure Operatioal Metrics Related to process Strategic Goal (L1) Busiess Metric (L2) Operatioal Metric (L3) TAT-Bill geeratio Daily Sales Outstadig (DSO) % Receivables >due date Optimize Workig Capital Accouts Receivable % Bad Debts % Receivables >90 days Daily Bill Outstadig (DBO) % Bills uder query or o hold Best practices levers ad eablers to drive performace Stucture Risk profilig ad customer segmetatio Bill processig realigmet to hadle surges durig the moth Automatic processig of duig with alerts System geerated agig aalysis/ probable bad debts Procedures Process Techology Policies People Cotrols Aalyze performace likages from busiess goals to operatioal measures Oboardig Figure 1: Derivig operatioal metrics for optimizig workig capital Usig the bottom-up approach to idetify a solutio Havig uderstood the uderlyig metrics ad challeges that impact workig capital, the ext step would be to derive solutios o how to ifluece them positively. This requires a aalysis of the performace likages betwee operatioal measures ad fiace goals. The results of the aalysis ca the help make the right decisios ad idetify solutios that ca be applied bottom-up for achievig the overall goal. I this istace, we ca formulate four solutios that are likely to have a direct impact o operatioal metrics, ad thus deliver greater busiess value: 8

9 Solutio A: Risk profilig ad customer segmetatio: Helps improve the percetage of receivables collected o or before the due date Solutio B: Billig process realigmet to hadle surges durig the moth: Helps improve the percetage of bills raised o time ad esures that customer dues are received o or before the due date Solutio C: Automatic processig of duig¹ with alerts: Esures that remiders of paymets due are set to customers o time, ad also helps reduce the umber of outstadig paymets Solutio D: System geerated agig aalysis ad idetificatio of probable bad debts: Eables maagers to take ecessary prevetive actio ahead of time to support targeted customers, reducig bad debts ad the volume of outstadig paymets 6. Creatig a backdrop for greater fiacial ad busiess aligmet A orgaizatio may choose to apply ay framework or methodology to achieve operatioal efficiecy ad fuctioal effectiveess, but its success depeds o havig strog orgaizatioal support ad a clearly defied roadmap for the future. I order to make the most of the approaches already outlied, orgaizatios eed to esure the followig: Well-defied strategy: This cosists of the missio, visio ad goals, alog with a clear defiitio of objectives ad targets. Operatios that are aliged with the strategy provide the foudatio for drivig greater value ad achievig sustaiable growth. It is equally critical to update the strategy as per market requiremets ad traslate it ito clearly defied goals² ad objectives, both at the orgaizatio level ad the uit level. Strog executive sposorship: Orgaizatios should ot uderestimate the power of commitmet ad sposorship from their seior leadership. A cross-fuctioal team comprisig fiace ad busiess uit heads esures participatio ad also serves as a goverig body to provide directio, secure fudig, oversee progress, ad resolve disputes. Project based approach ad key resource pla: It is importat to drive the framework as a targeted project supported by a team with the right skill sets ad experiece. The team must also be well respected by their peers for faster acceptace across the fuctio. Chage maagemet process: Robust chage maagemet practices must be iitiated by key stakeholders ad supported by effective commuicatio across all chaels. [1] Duig refers to persistet efforts by leders or suppliers to collect paymet from borrowers or buyers [2] Goals are broad statemets that showcase what a orgaizatio would like to achieve, ad are substatiated with objectives represetig short-term targets. 9

10 7. Coclusio I the aftermath of the global fiacial crisis, fiace fuctios have evolved ad are poised to deliver greater value to busiess. But this also places immese pressure o CFOs to strike the right balace betwee strategy ad operatioal performace. For this to happe, high-level goals must be distilled ito operatioal targets with specific metrics that impact them. They must also idetify issues, challeges, ad best practices at the groud level, ad coect them to the broader targets ad goals of the busiess. The future is goig to be all the more demadig, as fiace fuctios become the buildig blocks for ot oly ifluecig, but also implemetig ad executig key strategic goals. The requiremets for strikig the right balace betwee strategy ad performace will differ from idustry to idustry, ad orgaizatio to orgaizatio. We recommed usig a framework such as the methodology suggested i this paper, to correlate metrics at various levels of processes as well as across fuctios. This helps stakeholders uderstad the impact of each process ad trasactio, ad gai isights o balacig operatioal efficiecies ad fiacial goals. 10

11 About TCS' Busiess Process Services Uit Eterprises seek to drive busiess growth ad agility through iovatio i a icreasigly regulated, competitive, ad global market. TCS helps cliets achieve these goals by maagig ad executig their busiess operatios effectively ad efficietly. TCS' Busiess Process Services (BPS) iclude core idustry-specific processes, aalytics ad isights, ad eterprise services such as fiace ad accoutig, HR, ad supply chai maagemet. TM TCS creates value through its FORE simplificatio ad trasformatio methodology, backed by its TM deep domai expertise, extesive techology experiece, ad TRAPEZE goverace eablers ad solutios. TCS complemets its experiece ad expertise with iovative delivery models such as usig robotic automatio ad providig Busiess Processes as a Service (BPaaS). TCS' BPS uit has bee positioed i the leaders' quadrat for various service lies by may leadig aalyst firms. With over four decades of global experiece ad a delivery footprit spaig six cotiets, TCS is oe of the largest BPS providers today. Cotact For more iformatio about TCS Busiess Process Services Uit, visit: ( bps.coect@tcs.com Subscribe to TCS White Papers TCS.com RSS: Feedburer: About Tata Cosultacy Services (TCS) Tata Cosultacy Services is a IT services, cosultig ad busiess solutios orgaizatio that delivers real results to global busiess, esurig a level of certaity o other firm ca match. TCS offers a cosultig-led, itegrated portfolio of IT ad IT-eabled ifrastructure, egieerig ad TM assurace services. This is delivered through its uique Global Network Delivery Model, recogized as the bechmark of excellece i software developmet. A part of the Tata Group, Idia s largest idustrial coglomerate, TCS has a global footprit ad is listed o the Natioal Stock Exchage ad Bombay Stock Exchage i Idia. For more iformatio, visit us at IT Services Busiess Solutios Cosultig All cotet / iformatio preset here is the exclusive property of Tata Cosultacy Services Limited (TCS). The cotet / iformatio cotaied here is correct at the time of publishig. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, trasmitted, posted or distributed i ay form without prior writte permissio from TCS. Uauthorized use of the cotet / iformatio appearig here may violate copyright, trademark ad other applicable laws, ad could result i crimial or civil pealties. Copyright 2014 Tata Cosultacy Services Limited TCS Desig Services I M I 10 I 14