Advisory Services

A clearer vision for finance

The roles of the CFO, finance executives and the finance organization have changed significantly in the past five years.

In a recent Ernst & Young study, 79% of senior business decision makers indicate that finance is now either much more or somewhat more strategically involved. But less than half want finance to play a bigger role.

Often, it’s because finance doesn’t have its priorities aligned to the business.

As the priorities of the business shift to meet market demands, business executives expect finance’s priorities to change with them. If they do not, finance will quickly lose its relevance. And possibility its hard-won seat at the table.

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Finance: get with the business or get out of the way

Finance has finally earned a seat at the decision-making table. Are you able to grow and keep pace with rapidly changing business priorities?

Finance: be strategic or become irrelevant

To have a valued seat at the table, finance must ensure their skills and goals align with business needs and priorities.

Three opportunities for finance to add strategic value

Finance must up their game in three important areas to stay a valued member at the boardroom table.

Improving supply chain results

The world is becoming more complex. Planning cycles are shrinking. Customer expectations have forced operations to move to mass customization of goods and services.

Once-agreed-upon business assumptions are being questioned and doubted. Global volatility is matched with domestic uncertainty. And future growth opportunities are hard to quantify and visualize.

In this context of rapid change, management practices that have worked in the past may not bring the desired results in today’s new environment.

The companies that will prosper and grow in this environment will be those that use flexibility, efficiency and differentiation to pave the way forward.

The results of our 20th annual trends and issues in logistics and transportation study suggest that firms must direct much more effort toward increasing their operational flexibility.

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Improving business performance? Look to your supply chain

Finance executives are making aggressive performance promises that operations functions are expected to keep. Are you taking a holistic view of business performance?

Improve supply chain: standardize operating processes

Through standardizing operating processes, IT systems and data management, companies can minimize operating stumbles and improve service level performance by focusing on simplicity and reliability.

Power and utilities: improve record keeping to reduce risk

Following several industrial accidents, historic data on the physical condition and maintenance of the power grid is under scrutiny. Do your older records measure up?

Driving supply chain results

How will you improve your supply chain results in this competitive market? Read more on how to get the best results in emerging and developed markets.

Cutting costs, not customers

It costs as much as six times more to get new customers than to keep an old one. Yet too often companies take their customers for granted or don’t look for opportunities to increase revenue from perfectly satisfied customers.

Containing costs is a necessity but organizations can never “cost cut” their way to leadership.

Customers have long memories. They will not forget (or forgive) opportunistic actions, but they will remember excellent customer service.

Now is the time for leaders to focus on their reputation with each of their core customers.

Our report, Cutting costs not customers looks at ways to improve the efficiency of your customer retention management.

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Five actions to keep customers and boost revenues

Tough economic conditions, increasing customer expectations and global competition mean that companies must create analytical insights into their customers’ profitability and lifetime value.

The new role of IT

Information technology functions need to strike a balance between risk and performance.

But reality often falls short of this goal.

That’s because IT’s influence on the business has evolved so quickly that many IT functions are still struggling with how to marry their technical expertise with a new business perspective.

Learn more about closing the gap between expectations and delivery from IT in our Global 2011 IT performance survey, Innovating for growth.

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Ready for takeoff - Preparing for your journey into the cloud

Organizations are looking at cloud computing to increase effectiveness of IT initiatives, reduce costs, increase operational flexibility and generate a competitive advantage. Are you prepared?

Protecting and strengthening your brand

As social media reinvents business relationships, we look at the rise of consumer media, understanding its risks, holistic social media governance, and brand protection.

New risks redefine the role of the CIO

The pace at which technology is changing is an ongoing challenge for CIOs and presents new risks.

Keep pace with change using hybrid IT models

CIOs increase their strategic value as IT becomes a more critical function in business strategy.

Information security in a borderless world

The notion that any organization can be 100% secure is unrealistic in today’s hyper-connected, borderless world. The question is not are you secure, but is the information that matters most secure enough?

Traditional security models that focus primarily on keeping the bad guys out no longer work. The new security model needs to be predictive, proactive, collaborative and enterprise-wide.

It’s time to rethink how organizations can keep their most valuable assets safe. Read our information security insights to learn more.

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2012 Global Information Security Survey

As the speed and complexity of technology accelerates, the gap in your information security program grows. Is your organization doing enough to close the gap?

Privacy trends 2012

To achieve greater accountability, many organizations will have to rethink their approach to privacy.

A path to making privacy count

Organizations are struggling to manage the security and privacy collected information. Privacy protection now needs to be a fundamental component of any IT transformation.

Data lost prevention

The blurry line between work and personal use of data can result in leaks – unintentional or malicious. Learn to identify and address these leaks.

The evolving IT risk landscape

Security risks posed by mobile computing, cloud computing social media and online payments have become critical issues for investors, regulators, shareholders and executives.

Turning risk into results

Events of the last decade have fundamentally shifted how organizations think about risk. They have made substantial investments in personnel, processes and technology to help control business risk.

In making their risk investments, organizations have primarily focused on financial controls and regulatory compliance. What these investments often do not address are the more strategic risk areas.

Those who have addressed strategic risk, and have developed more mature risk management practices, are out performing their peers.

Find out how in our report, Turning risk into results.

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Turning risk into results: Americas power & utilities

With multiple stakeholders presenting conflicting priorities, utilities need to develop a clear risk strategy to uncover opportunities and drive performance.

How mature is your risk management?

Advisory Risk Leader Michael Herrinton shares with Harvard Business Review why organizations with greater risk management maturity outperform their peers.

How to respond to catastrophic events

Black swans are unexpected unpreventable and catastrophic events. You need to be able to respond as quickly and effectively as possible.

Thinking outside the SOX box

Many organizations treat their SOX functions as a compliance exercise. But automation, off shoring, IT investment and innovation allow your SOX function to add value.

Turn risks and opportunities into results

Regulation and compliance risks remain a concern while improving execution across business functions presents great opportunity. Learn more on the top business risks and opportunities today.

The future of internal audit

The role of internal audit has evolved.

The global financial crisis has significantly impacted how stakeholders view corporate governance and risk management. The need for clearer accountabilities is impacting senior executives, directors and risk-related business unit leaders.

The future of internal audit is now and it focuses on aligning internal audit’s business objectives to that of the organization’s broader business strategy.

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The future of internal audit is now

We explore actions internal audit can take to realize strategic alignment, increase business relevance and achieve a risk maturity that accelerates financial performance.

How internal audit can detect and prevent fraud risks

Executives face personal liability for the corrupt activities of their employees. Consider using anti-corruption analytics to help manage the risk.

Convey the health of your internal controls instantly

A clear picture of risks is a challenge for internal audit teams. A three-dimensional control rating system helps you better gauge effective or ineffective controls.

Unlocking the value of internal audit

Learn why internal audit should be involved in all strategic decision-making to grow or improve your organization.

Internal audit case study: is cosourcing the right move

Four leaders of fictional XYZ Technology Group consider cosourcing as part of their internal audit strategy. Read about the issues they face along the way.