Finance is in transformation and is increasingly becoming a strategic business partner. This strategic role also involves focusing on the customer. You can only operate strategically if you know what your customer really wants. Now, the question in Finance is who the customer is. Does customer focus for the finance team mean focusing primarily on the leadership of the organization, the other departments or is the end customer (also) in the picture?
An interesting question, and this year’s topic in the ongoing research on the transformation of Finance by the University of Amsterdam, Workday and Finance on a Mission, among others. Finance professionals were asked who they see as the most important customer for their department. The answer? Finance considers the group’s financial leadership – the central CFO – the most important customer. This is mentioned by 97% of those surveyed. This is followed by the local director (branch director, country manager) and the central CEO, both of whom are mentioned by over 90%. The organization’s end customer – the consumers and businesses that purchase its services and products – is at the bottom of the list of most important customers. Now that sounds more serious and absolute than it is: the end customer is also still mentioned by 72%.
Balance between customer and compliance
There is, however, a relationship between the customer focus of an organization and the customer focus of Finance. Market and customer driven organizations tend to have a finance team that is also more focused on the end customer. The research shows that customer orientation, as it were, trickles down to all departments, including Finance. In government agencies, listed companies and very large corporations, the focus of Finance on the end customer is more limited. In such organizations, Finance is more focused on the compliance customer – the CFO, compliance officer and the audit organization. Apparently, the strategic partnership also means – and this sounds logical – that Finance finds a good balance between supporting the business and monitoring the compliance frameworks.
A customer-focused finance department should ideally focus on both the internal and external customer. Being aware of who the entire organization is working for and what is important to those customers also helps to best serve the internal customer. Finance can provide the other departments with the data and insights needed to strategically operate in the most customer-centric way possible.
Reliability of data
The research on Finance’s transformation and customer focus also shows that many organizations are still struggling with the reliability and availability of relevant data. About half of the professionals surveyed indicated that obtaining reliable data is an issue, and obtaining it in a timely manner is even more so. The systems that Finance uses can generally make data available, but getting relevant information from the system at the right time and in such a way that it supports strategic decision-making is still often difficult.
Another bottleneck in the provision of information, according to the participants in the study, is the lack of standardization and centralization of data. If all departments in the organization work with the same data definitions and draw from the same, centralized and preferably cloud-based data source, it strengthens the decision-making and decisiveness of the entire organization. One of the CFOs interviewed said, “Making sure everyone is using the same data definition may not earn you the title of ’employee of the year,’ but it’s one of the best things you can do for the organization.”
Customer focus of Finance – both focused on the internal customers and the end customers – helps the customer orientation of the entire organization. A condition for this is that the information systems are designed to make relevant, reliable and unambiguous data and insights available on time. This enables Finance to fulfill its role as a strategic business partner.
Article written by Rob Cools, Finance Transformation Specialist at Workday.
