The Financial Leader’s Monthly Action Plan: Prove business value with metrics that matter

We’ve released an eBook titled “The Financial Leader’s Monthly Action Plan.” Each month, we are posting excerpts here on our blog.  For the month of May, the theme is “Prove business value with metrics that matter.” 

Investors and acquirers are more discerning, informed, and risk-averse than ever. They require a comprehensive understanding of an organization before making investment decisions. To realize the full potential of your company, consider using the following strategies and metrics to present it in the best light:  

Use standardized management review controls (MRCs) 

• Objective: Investors and acquirers value transparency in management's review processes. MRCs demonstrate the depth and value of these reviews. 
• Implementation: Clearly outline the steps involved in management review, including the examination of supporting documentation, variance analysis, resolution efforts, key calculations, and collaboration with process owners. Emphasize the comprehensive nature of the review to showcase the commitment to accuracy and reliability. 

Understand how data informs your organization 

• Objective: Investors seek assurance that an organization recognizes the importance of data and is actively managing it to prevent intellectual property loss. 
• Implementation: Highlight the processes in place for creating and managing data flow between systems. Emphasize the role of accurate data in supporting AI initiatives and preventing loss of intellectual property during personnel changes. 

Establish corporate KPIs and goals 

• Objective: Investors look for cohesion and strategic direction within an organization. Establishing corporate KPIs and goals, fanned down throughout the organization demonstrates alignment and enhances business value. 
• Implementation: Create and distribute simple dashboards showing KPIs and their trends. . Stress the impact of clear goals and centralized analytics on promoting teamwork, providing clear direction, and improving organizational efficiency. 

Implement centralized, interactive analytics 

• Objective: Investors value efficient project management and reporting processes. Interactive analytics prove your business's ability to operate cohesively and make informed decisions. 
• Implementation: Implement centralized analytics to enhance project manager efficiency, alleviate the reporting strain on finance, and enable easy data exploration. Share your analytics technologies, methods, and findings to prove to investors that you are making data-driven business decisions. 

Record value around system implementations 

• Objective: Investors seek assurance that implemented systems are robust, tested, and accurate. Demonstrating a formal, monitored process around system implementations establishes confidence in the organization's operational integrity. 

• Implementation: Showcase the formal, monitored process applied to system implementations. Highlight pre-launch testing to ensure the system operates as intended, reinforcing the accuracy and reliability of information derived from the system. 

Rate your organization 

So where does your organization fall on the analytics maturity scale? 

1. We don’t really even know what KPIs we should be measuring. 
2. We know what we want to measure, but we can’t quite get it done. 
3.  We have standardized KPIs, but measurement takes a lot of manual effort.
4. We have real-time interactive KPIs that are centralized across the organization and databases, plus great adoption.
5. We’re using KPIs coupled with qualitative information to drive our business strategy.  

Wherever you sit now, your goal should be to get to number 5 on the scale, which will require some effort and intentionality.  

Master your data with an integrated business intelligence tool 

An integrated Business Intelligence (BI) tool is the solution you need to gather, process, analyze, and present data in a meaningful way for informed decision-making within your organization. When choosing a solution, look for these features:

• Clients gain full access to their ERP data with a seamless experience 
• Data-savvy clients can quickly build needed custom reports 
• Ad-hoc data discovery allows users to easily get role-appropriate information 
• An optimum user experience is provided with best-of-breed report writing and formatting 
• Data analysis results are consistent with other ERP reports 
• Real-time data provides highly accurate and timely information 
• Updated data is immediately reflected in reports 

Suggested resources 

Review the following resources to become better informed on using data to enhance the value of your business. 

• The Financial Leader’s Monthly Action Plan
• Inc. article from Unanet CEO 
  
• Metrics that Matter podcast