IBM Unveils New Financial Management Tool to Help Companies Analyze and Improve Finance Effectiveness
IBM Unveils New Financial Management Tool to Help Companies Analyze and Improve Finance Effectiveness
ARMONK, NY today announced a unique analytical financial
transformation tool to help companies more effectively analyze and
manage the performance of a company’s finance function. Developed
by IBM Research in conjunction with IBM Global Business Services,
the Finance Transformation Workbench tool (patent pending) uses
advanced IBM patented software and service methodologies to help
Chief Financial Officers and other senior finance executives
identify underperforming finance functions within their company and
identify new opportunities to transform and improve the finance
function.
Analysis has shown that traditional methods that companies
employ to improve their finance functions are often lacking in
their ability to effectively and accurately identify exactly where
pain points and redundancies occur within the finance organization.
Finance functions need to have access to key metrics and benchmarks
in order for companies to gain optimal financial performance. CFOs
and other senior finance executives need to have simple and
standardized finance processes to make fact-based decisions reduce
finance costs and effectively partner with business units to
enhance growth opportunities through integrated reporting and
analytical capabilities.
According to the recent 2008 IBM Global CFO Study, one-third of
CFOs and senior finance executives stated they are ineffective at
measuring and monitoring business performance. The study of 1,200
CFOs suggests that current financial management models lack the
effectiveness and flexibility to accommodate the needs of global
enterprises. The Financial Transformation Workbench tool has been
designed to address the CFO agenda and help improve effectiveness
of the finance function.
“CFOs need quick access to the truth, they need process and data
commonality through enterprise standards to achieve higher levels
of efficacy,” said William Fuessler, Global Financial Management
Leader, IBM Global Business Services. “The delay in understanding
the true state of the business can mean the difference between
profitability and lost growth potential. The Finance Transformation
Workbench tool is yet another example of IBM’s high-value services
proposition which automates labor-based process and uses our
Intellectual Property (IP) to create repeatable software-like
assets.”
IBM’s Financial Management practice part of IBM Global Business
Services, developed the Finance Transformation Workbench tool to
help company’s address key challenges in financial processes and
data collection. By using this tool, companies can diagnose and
develop specific opportunities to improve an organization’s finance
function and ultimately the performance of the overall company.
CFOs can examine which finance functions and components are
underperforming in comparison to industry benchmark measures and
the reasons why they are not performing effectively.
Specifically, the Finance Workbench tool can:
-- Analyze business performance
-- Identify underperforming finance functions and components
-- Identify transformation opportunities
-- Assess the business value of finance function transformation
initiatives
-- Visualize linkages to various enterprise models
-- Pre-populate finance function benchmark data and process taxonomies
-- Leverage Finance Function best practices and methodologies
-- Focus on increasing revenues and reducing costs
From an organizational and financial systems perspective, by
investigating the organizational responsibilities and IT
application portfolio in relation to business components,
shortfalls such as duplications, over-extensions, gaps and
deficiencies can be identified. Using this tool, specific solutions
can be discovered to address the identified shortfalls. Financial
benefits of implementing specific solutions can be analyzed further
by conducting a business case analysis. The Finance Workbench
dramatically improves the ability, accuracy and speed with which an
organization can do this.
The Finance Transformation Workbench tool provides an integrated
and seamless view of various business models and financial data.
These models which are all linked together include: Finance
Function component business models, business process Taxonomies,
(such as the American Productivity and Quality Council Process
Classification Framework) and organization structure maps. The tool
embodies a method for conducting this functional analysis using a
structured framework and approach to generate valuable and
actionable insights to finance executives. The tool is scalable and
customizable to an organizations needs.
This Finance Transformation Workbench tool underscores the
future of IBM’s services business. The services model of the future
includes analytical software coupled with high-value consulting
services and world-class research underpinning it. The future of
services is about providing high value services through the
application of Intellectual Property assets in an efficient,
consistent and repeatable fashion. Software plays an increasingly
important role in the provision of consulting services, and this
tool supports IBM’s strategy to provide high value Financial
Management Consulting services for our clients in an efficient and
consistently effective manner.
About IBM
For more information visit www.ibm.com.
Contact:
Randy Zane
IBM Media Relations
917-472-3589
rzane@us.ibm.com
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