Finance Analytics and Data Analysis

Finance Analytics and Data Analysis Initiatives

Nearly two-thirds of board directors said their organizations are in the process of becoming more digital — with greater emphasis on digital revenue, digital margins and digital productivity.

In response, progressive finance leaders are turning to data and analytics (D&A) innovations to provide executives with better information to drive digital strategies. What D&A trends should finance leverage to enable a more data-driven organization?

Download Gartner's eBook to learn the top D&A trends finance leaders should know.

Download the 'Top Finance Analytics and Data & Analytics Trends' ebook

Review the 4 key D&A trends finance leaders need to know

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Finance analytics: Big investment, very low return

Finance analytics reporting and support account for almost one-third of finance function spend. But these investments are failing us: Finance data is not suited to modern decision making, and managers lack the knowledge to use it correctly.

Misuse of finance analytics can cost organizations as much as 1% of revenue per decision, adding up to dramatic business impact over time.

Bar graph displaying indexed value of decisions driven by bottom-, average- and top-quality analysis as reportted by senior decision makers. For big strategic decisions, top-quartile analysis can improve decision outcomes by up to 1% of sales.

Recapture the value of finance analytics

Enforcing standards through tighter policies and controls will not improve finance analytics usage or usefulness. Instead, as a part of finance transformation efforts, business managers and finance staff should collaboratively define, develop and apply finance analytics. Decision teams with clear data governance roles and responsibilities can brainstorm problem economics, co-create more intuitive reporting formats and push one another’s thinking.

Finance analytics insights you can use

Leading organizations embrace a business-centric approach to finance analytics. To enable growth, generate finance analytics that significantly improve decision making.

Lead your FP&A function to success

FP&A leaders should be taking action to improve planning amid business disruptions and accelerate adoption of digital technologies in FP&A.

Download our Leadership Vision eBook to explore the key actions for FP&A leaders, including adopting a phased budget allocation approach, understanding the market for AI providers and separating hype from reality to unlock value from advanced analytics.

There is a 50% increase in the share of finance spend on analytics in the past three years

1 in every 4 decision makers does not use financial analysis as part of the decision-making process.

Update your dashboards to drive performance

For CFOs to generate highly relevant reports from their finance dashboards, it’s critical to focus on the right metrics and key performance indicators.

The key is to ensure that the finance dashboard can really be used as a management tool — to track all truly relevant finance KPIs, allow for finance objectives to be met, and ensure the organization and its business units and functions meet or outperform their financial objectives.

Learn how the best CFOs are tuning their Finance dashboards using metrics to drive performance.

Modernize KPIs for the digital age

Most finance teams have not updated their metrics in years, but a new era of business demands a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics.

Watch this webinar to learn how finance leaders use driver maps to modernize KPIs set for the digital age, understand the evolution of the digital business model and learn how to map KPIs to the digital business model.

Only 47% of decision makers say financial analysis adequitely portrays the story of their business area and its performance.

How Gartner helps with Financial Data & Analytics

Gartner Finance Data & Analytics Case Studies

We haven’t yet seen better quality decisions getting made despite investing in data scientists and expensive systems with advanced analytic capabilities.

CFO, Fortune 500 Company

Case Study

How Gartner helps clients with finance analytics

Listen to the CFO at March of Dimes discuss how Gartner helped with finance analytics, specifically defining metrics and creating value.

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Finance Analytics and Data Analysis