Information Integration To the Forefront

Finance personnel have traditionally acted as the stewards of the organization's financial data and reporting. Now finance managers see their role extending beyond purely financial data. To optimize decision analytics and provide insight into risks and opportunities for the business, finance is taking a leading role in integrating information about customers, suppliers, and employees that is necessary to reflect overall performance across the entire value chain.

To enable better decisions, finance teams are launching three types of related, data-focused initiatives. First are initiatives to improve management's view of corporate performance information. These include creating executive dashboards and developing sets of measures to guide decision-making throughout the organization. Second are initiatives that improve insight into the business processes themselves. Many organizations have invested in ERP and CRM, but accessing and sharing information collected within these applications continues to be a challenge. And finally are what we consider to be the next generation of data initiatives, centered around real-time "business event/activity monitoring." These include putting in place an information environment integrated with business processes so that anytime something of a material nature happens within the organization or externally (e.g., to one of the company's key customers or suppliers), that event is immediately identified and the right people are made aware of it.

In order to drive risk insight, performance insight, and growth insight within their organization, finance departments will likely bring these three types of data-integration initiatives together through their BPM solutions. The software needs to be aligned with the organization's strategy, as well as linked to lower-level operational activities. It needs to support better decision-making among all information consumers, especially individuals on the front lines, who heretofore have not had access to such information. These might include the people in call centers who interact with customers; the sales force; the people in HR who are coaching, training, and promoting others; and the buyers who are negotiating with suppliers.

We are clearly operating in an information-driven economy. The quality of decisions throughout the organization depends on people's timely access to the right business data. As more and more companies realize the value of their information assets in creating a competitive advantage, the ongoing ability of employees across the company to make more informed decisions will hinge on finance's ability to provide insights into the future risks, performance, and growth opportunities that the business will encounter. This shift will be challenging, but as IBM's recent survey highlights, finance departments are sure to find it well worth the effort.

Michael J. Schroeck is a partner and the global business intelligence leader for IBM Business Consulting Services. He has guided business intelligence and BPM project teams for a wide range of clients.