As the role of the CFO expands into that of a strategic business partner, finance chiefs face an increasing need to monitor performance outside of the finance domain. The importance of extending FP&A principles outside of finance – termed xP&A by Gartner – is rising. With data being the lifeblood of the modern organisation, operational information from sales, HR, marketing, and the supply chain, to name a few, must be consolidated in a single, shared repository to support wider, informed decisions about running and growing the business.

Though CFOs need to leverage vast amounts of unwieldy data in decision-making processes, the reality is that many of them lack either the tools or expertise to perform the deep data analysis needed to propel the business forward. In some cases, the data is distributed across several legacy systems that are poorly connected or not connected at all. In other instances, valuable corporate information is locked in spreadsheets on personal desktops or storage drives, making it inaccessible to all but the owner.

There is clearly still progress to be made when it comes to analyzing data in finance. Thankfully, Decision-Making Platforms are emerging as valuable tools to help tech-savvy CFOs develop data-driven business strategies.

Access your free eBook: A CFO’s Guide to Decision- Making Platforms , to learn more about the Decision-Making Platforms helping tech-savvy CFOs develop data-driven business strategies.