Three-quarters of Finance and Accounting teams do not have the data and analytics capabilities they need, according to EXL and HFS survey
08 September 2022 - 3:00AM
Data-driven finance has become a top priority for corporate finance
and accounting teams around the world, but just 23% feel they have
the data and analytics capabilities they need to drive real-time
insights and deliver strategic advice to their organizations.
That’s according to a new report published today by HFS Research in
partnership with EXL, [NASDAQ: EXLS], a leading data analytics and
digital operations and solutions company. The report, Behind Every
Successful Enterprise, There is Data-Driven Finance (click here),
takes the pulse of more than 200 finance and accounting leaders
globally across several different industries to identify their
biggest priorities, most significant challenges and organizational
goals for the year ahead.
“Our study finds that data-driven finance has become a top
priority as organizations chase post-pandemic growth and
profitability, but the path to that transformation is littered with
challenges and many finance and accounting leaders still feel they
lack the tools, tech and talent they need to thrive in this
environment,” said Saurabh Gupta, President, Research and Advisory
Services, HFS Research. “However, for those fast-growing firms at
the peak of economic performance, it is clear that prioritizing
investment in data-driven finance is paying off handsomely in the
form of more agile operations and a repositioning of the finance
function from cost center to strategic partner.”
Following are some of the study’s key findings:
- Data-Driven
Finance is the Future: The vast majority of finance and
accounting executives (89%) believe that data-driven finance is the
future and 87% agree that they will need to invest in artificial
intelligence (AI) analytics, cloud and digitally-fluent talent to
reach their data-driven finance goals.
- Most Finance
Teams Lag on Data Maturity: Just 23% of organizations
currently have mature, data-driven finance functions in place
today, while 77% report that they are still working on their
finance data and analytics gameplan. On average, finance and
accounting leaders anticipate a two-year timeline for achieving
their data-driven finance goals.
- Empowering
Evolution of Finance from Cost Center to Strategic
Advisor: The primary drivers behind finance and accounting
teams’ push to data-driven finance are identifying growth
opportunities to support the business and become a more strategic
advisor (25%), driving operational cost reductions (18%) and
improving capital allocation (18%).
- Fast-Growing
Firms Show the Way: Among fast-growing firms with topline
growth rates of more than 15%, 36% have mature, data-driven finance
functions and 32% cite the primary driver of their data-driven
strategies as the ability to become a strategic advisor to the
business. The majority of fast-growing firms (52%) are already
proactively developing centralized centers of excellence for better
management of data and analytics. By contrast, just 23% of mid- and
slow-moving firms have started to develop centers of excellence for
data-driven finance.
“Against the current backdrop of economic and geopolitical
volatility, technological disruption and sweeping changes in
consumer behavior, the finance and accounting function has become a
critical source of intelligence for guiding corporate strategy,”
said Narasimha Kini, EXL Executive Vice President and Business
Head, Emerging Business Unit. “To unlock that intelligence,
however, finance and accounting teams need sophisticated data and
analytics capabilities that give them real-time insights and the
ability to forecast across multiple different scenarios. Clearly,
many pioneering firms are cracking that code with highly evolved
data-driven finance functions, but many still have a very long way
to go.”
The full report, Behind Every Successful Enterprise, There is
Data-Driven Finance is based on a survey of 207 finance and
accounting executives in the banking, financial services and
insurance, retail, consumer-packaged goods, manufacturing, media
and communication and pharma/life sciences industry, along with a
series of qualitative interviews to supplement survey results. The
survey was conducted from January-March of 2022.
For more information on this research and access to the full
report, visit here
© 2022 ExlService Holdings, Inc. All
rights reserved. For more information go
to www.exlservice.com/legal-disclaimer
About EXL
EXL (NASDAQ: EXLS) is a leading data analytics and digital
operations and solutions company that partners with clients to
improve business outcomes and unlock growth. By bringing together
deep domain expertise with robust data, powerful analytics, cloud,
artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning (“ML”), we
create agile, scalable solutions and execute complex operations for
the world’s leading corporations in industries including insurance,
healthcare, banking and financial services, media, and retail,
among others. Focused on driving faster decision-making and
transforming operating models, EXL was founded on the core values
of innovation, collaboration, excellence, integrity and respect.
Headquartered in New York, our team is over 40,600 strong, with
more than 50 offices spanning six continents. For more information,
visit www.exlservice.com.
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© 2022 ExlService Holdings, Inc. All rights
reserved. For more information go to
www.exlservice.com/legal-disclaimer
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