3 minute read 12 Feb 2021
Financial expert analyze business report graph and finance chart

Three digital technologies accelerating FP&A into the future

By Deep Ghumman

Ernst & Young LLP Consulting Services Principal

Passionate about helping enterprises take the next leap on becoming more productive through the digitization of finance.

3 minute read 12 Feb 2021
Related topics Consulting Finance Digital

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The wave of digital technologies will continue to disrupt and transform financial planning and analysis (FP&A) functions.

New and emerging technologies will transform the FP&A function as companies want to unlock the full potential of data. Leaders will need to know how to utilize these technologies and effectively implement them so that FP&A can focus on being a strategic pioneer rather than a historical scorekeeper by increasing deeper communication and partnership between FP&A and the business.

There are three key technologies that will transform the future of FP&A:

1. Cloud

While many organizations have originally resisted the switch to the cloud due to their large investments in on-premise products, legacy platforms are nearing their “end of life,” and organizations must adapt accordingly. Beyond sunsetting support for many on-premise products, leading vendors are also providing frequent functionality updates and improvements to further justify the migration to the cloud. New hybrid infrastructures are encouraging a gradual shift to cloud, allowing for increasing cloud usage as the on-premise systems depreciate.

70%

of organizations already have at least one cloud application today, and are expected to have 100% cloud-based computing in the near future.¹

2. Big data

FP&A is at the forefront of the push toward deriving valuable business insight from big data. Advancement in technology has lowered the cost and increased scalability of data processing, allowing companies of all sizes to unlock the value across multiple data sources. Big data is a “must have” for analyzing structured and unstructured data to make better strategic decisions, as companies are able to gather large amounts of data to derive real-time business insights that relate to customers, risk, profit, performance and enhanced shareholder value.

75%

of organizations are likely to make considerable investments in the internet of things (IoT) and app and web-enabled markets.²

3. Machine learning/artificial intelligence/visualization

Machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and visualization technologies enable an advanced analytics platform for FP&A to empower businesses and functions to share information and make connected, data-driven decisions. Analytics starts with data, but using techniques such as predictive modeling, statistics and visualization turns the data into insights.

95%

of finance leaders in the US (and 72% globally) say that AI will be vital for the finance function of the future.³

While the business can derive benefits from each of these technologies individually, the effective combination of all three is required for FP&A to achieve the greatest impact on the business. Read the full report.

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Summary

The companies that lay the foundation now and adopt the latest FP&A technologies will have more effective and efficient processes and more trust in data, allowing them to survive the turbulent times and be better prepared to navigate the future. 

About this article

By Deep Ghumman

Ernst & Young LLP Consulting Services Principal

Passionate about helping enterprises take the next leap on becoming more productive through the digitization of finance.

Related topics Consulting Finance Digital