Going from ‘anything goes’ to ‘everyone knows’
Simplifying—and enhancing—finance reporting and analytics at a global food corporation
THE POWER OF
SIMPLE: DRIVING
$30M IN SAVINGS
AND REVENUE
IN A SINGLE YEAR
The Situation
“I know a guy.” Productive when you are looking to have your gutters cleaned! Or maybe need some landscaping done? But when you’re working at a global food corporation with operations in more than 70 countries and need to get a finance report created or financial analytics performed? That model—of thousands of professionals in business units across multiple countries and geographies shooting off tens of thousands of emails to “people they know” to get that work done—simply wasn’t working.
With no centralized delivery model to support the reporting and analytics needs of finance stakeholders, and with multiple teams across the globe performing analytics, not only were standardization and consistency entirely absent, but the accuracy and completeness of information was impossible to ascertain. A few examples: Deriving insights into the profitability of specific customers and products? Limited. The impacts on profit and loss of business changes? Confusing. Pricing errors? Exceedingly hard to identify.
Moreover, the actual value being generated through these thousands of one-off reports was a mystery. There was simply no way to know if the reports being generated were adding to knowledge or being used to drive actions that, in turn, drove value.
THE SOLVE
MAKE IT SIMPLE.
MAKE IT CLEAR.
MAKE IT EASIER
TO SEE THE VALUE.
The Impact
Financial reporting and analytics have now been greatly simplified and standardized, with answers and insights more easily accessed (and with thousands of reports having now been retired. Again—simple!). In addition, more of the reports being run today line up to broader company-wide strategies and initiatives, with the number of these more-strategic reports (versus one-off reports disconnected from broader work) having tripled since launch.
And the measurable benefit to the company? $20 million generated in annual revenue, more than $10 million generated in cost savings, and more than 100,000 hours saved!
The company is now taking advantage of its enhanced reporting capabilities and deeper understanding to identify cost reduction opportunities, improve pricing decisions, and improve customer profitability.
The company has also been able to quantify the value generation that each and every analytics solution brings. This has helped finance leaders better articulate value delivered to leadership and expand operations even further.
By the numbers:
- More than 8,000 users impacted
- Thousands of analytical reports created and standardized
- Global reach including more than 70 countries
- Billions of data records processed to create new analytics solutions
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