Turn Financial Planning and Analysis Into a Business Advantage

FP&A must be able to scale impact to the majority of organizational decision makers. This means operating less like a head of consulting and more like a manager of finance’s analytics products. It means prioritizing the reach and organizational impact of FP&A’s decision and planning support over team recognition and in-person influence. And scaling impact through technology means FP&A’s influence is less visible than when it was directly involved, but with greater reach and impact.

The shift to a primarily digital model may cause apprehension for FP&A at first. But the traditional in-person business partnering model has limits, and to reach the decision-making community beyond the C-suite and senior business executives, FP&A must position itself as the leader of a digital-first enterprise capability.

While leadership skills such as planning processes, communication and influence, and D&A knowledge have always been important for FP&A, the drastic change in the function requires additional critical competencies. AI is no longer just an efficiency play, it’s a strategic lever for planning and decision making. FP&A leaders should focus on high-value AI use cases that complement human efforts, such as identifying cost drivers and decision points that are diagnosis-resistant. The good news is that FP&A leaders’ existing experience and skills translate well to the new vision. 

Knowledge of FP&A software from previous implementations can help with assessing the adequacy of FP&A’s current technology. Years of accumulated D&A experience provide a strong foundation to develop a baseline knowledge of data science. And intimate knowledge of issues that come up during planning provides a foundation for identifying which currently underserved decisions would benefit the most from tools.

To broaden reach, effect change and achieve common goals, FP&A leaders need to build technology- and data-oriented relationships with senior leaders inside and outside the finance function. These include productive relationships with IT for tool building, with business decision makers to transition to tool-based support, with vendors to build digital acumen, and with the controller and other data stewards to ensure consistency of financial information.

Radical changes to functions, mindsets, competencies and relationships don’t happen overnight. To ease the transition from human-centric to tool-based support, CFOs can help FP&A leaders make or reinforce connections with senior executives, GMs and the CIO or CDAO (chief data and analytics officer).  

Meanwhile, FP&A can deepen its understanding of the technology and AI landscape, maximize the potential of existing technologies by engaging experts to identify unused capabilities, and incorporate digital skills development into staff performance reviews.