Top Technology Trends for CFOs

Timo.Elliott@sap.com @timoelliott

Timo ElliottGlobal innovation Evangelist

The Top Technology Trends Helping Finance Become a Better Business Partner

How Technology Can Help CFOs

In Memory Computing

Big Data & Analytics

Cloud Mobile, Etc

In-Memory Computing

Can you respond to data requests in under

a day?

Need to analyzedata more quickly

Data is hard tofind and understand

Only 12% 90% agree 58% agree

“Finance executives recognize need for speed in data analysis – but few companies are able to deliver in real time.”

cfo.com research

The Need For Speed

Store financial information just once…

In-Memory Computing

A transformative technology that slowly but surely upturns the whole industry

Faster, Simpler Finance

70% less reconciliation time

ICO reconciliation

30%less processing time

Financial Close

10% fewer fraud cases

Risk & compliance – real time screening on anomalies

40%less posting corrections

Financial Close

10%DSO reduction

Receivables management

1,8 TB ERP Database

Database footprint reduced from once 7.1 TB

80% less cost center re-org time

Organizational change

Soft close

Intra-month. Information when & where needed

3% cash optimization

Treasury

Greater Speed Equals Better Business Partnership

Reliable or very reliable

Valuable or very valuable

Effective or very effective analysis

Well-aligned or very well-aligned with strategy

89%

76%

94%

62%

54%

43%

50%

25%

Do Not UseUse

Source: Grant Thornton, APQC FP&A report Influencing Corporate Performance with Stellar Processes, People, and Technology Feb 2015

Impact of rolling forecasts on business evaluation of finance department

Analytics & Big Data

“WAR IS 90% INFORMATION”

Napoleon Bonaparte

83% of finance executives want to provide a holistic view of financial and operational performance that can support strategy development.

16© 2015 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

“Intricate calculations of sales by territories will appear as if by magic in the digital age ahead”

Decision Cockpits

Looking To The Future, Not the Past

Predictive Finance

Predictive Finance

Analysis

Optimization

What happened ?

Why did it happen ?

What will happen (when) ?

What should happen (how)?Com

petit

ive

Adv

anta

ge

Analytics Maturity

Record-to-Report

Impact of Predictive Analysis

Effective

Valuable

Well-aligned

95%

87%

71%

76%

55%

30%

Do Not UseUse

Using advanced analytics in Finance results in better alignment, effectiveness, and value

Source: Grant Thornton, APQC FP&A report Influencing Corporate Performance with Stellar Processes, People, and Technology Feb 2015

DATA SCIENCE

QUIZ.

These numbers were found in two tax declarations. One is entirely made up. Which one?

EUR

127,-2.863,-

10.983,-694,-

29.309,-32,-

843,-119.846,-18.744,-1.946,-

275,-

EUR

937,-82.654,-18.465,-

725,-98.832,-7.363,-4.538,-

38,-8.327,-

482,-2.945,-

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30.1%

17.6%

12.5%

9.7%7.9%

6.7%5.8% 5.1% 4.6%

Benford’s LawDistribution of the first digit of real-world sets of numbers that uniformly span several orders of magnitude

DATA SCIENCE

QUIZ.

These numbers were found in two tax declarations. One is entirely made up. Which one?

EUR

127,-2.863,-

10.983,-694,-

29.309,-32,-

843,-119.846,-18.744,-1.946,-

275,-

EUR

937,-82.654,-18.465,-

725,-98.832,-7.363,-4.538,-

38,-8.327,-

482,-2.945,-

Benford's Law, also called the First-Digit Law

Many Other Examples

“Why We Got Rid of Budgets”

The traditional budgeting process involved a lot of gaming

Our focus was extremely backwards looking

Deviations to budgets had to be explained

New forecasts were only made twice a year

Being in line with budgets was what made you a success

We were very detailed in our budgeting levels

We were spending 4-5 months on the process

Make planning a continuous and inclusive process, not a top-down annual event

Cloud

CheaperFaster

ImplementationFaster Innovation

Finance And Cloud Computing

Source: Saugatuck Technology

No plans for finance on cloud

Plan to replace all on-premise

Will be hybrid

almost 1/3 14% 60%

Leaving the Medieval Era?

Cloud-Based Business Networks

SuppliersBuyers

ProcurementTravel & Expenses

SalesFinance

LogisticsSupply ChainSustainabilityCompliance

Partners

Enable the business to make better decisions in

real time, anytime, anywhere

Enable Finance executives to manage their operations more

effectively

.Accelerate key process cycle times and eliminate

approval bottlenecks

Mobile Finance

Money, Reinvented

In cryptography we trust

“A way to transfer digital property in a way that is guaranteed to be safe and secure, everyone knows that the transfer has taken place, and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer.”

Blockchains

Replicated, shared ledgers

“Blockchain technology will not only change the way we do payments but it will change the whole trading and settlement topic”

CIO, UBS

CONCLUSION

Top Three Barriers to Better Finance

Insufficient knowledge of business strategy and dynamics among finance staff

Insufficient access to operational metrics that drive and impact financial measures

Staff buried in basic duties; no time to improve FP&A

27%

31%

62%

Source: Grant Thornton, APQC FP&A report Influencing Corporate Performance with Stellar Processes, People, and Technology Feb 2015

Technology Can Help CFOs

In Memory Computing

Big Data & Analytics

Cloud Mobile, etc

Thank You!Timo ElliottGlobal innovation Evangelist

Timo.Elliott@sap.com @timoelliott