FP&ATechnologyThe NeuGroup Insights Interview
July 14, 2022

NeuGroup’s Strategic Finance Lab Podcast, Episode 5: Planning For a Recession: An Interview with WM’s Eric Davis

Step into a lab where innovation and digital transformation empower senior finance executives to become true strategic partners. The likelihood of a US recession is raising the stakes for finance executives whose responsibilities include planning, forecasting and budgeting. And a critical first step to prepare for the future is to learn from the past. That’s among the takeaways from this podcast interview with Eric Davis, a vice president of finance at WM, the company formerly known as Waste Management. Mr.…
Senior ExecutiveTechnology
May 19, 2022

Stories and Foresight Built on Data: What a CFO Wants From Treasury

A seasoned CFO shares thoughts on automation and how treasury can elevate itself to become a strategic partner.The path of treasurers who are determined to walk the walk of becoming strategic business partners by devoting more time to value-adding activities and less to tactical tasks runs through automation that frees up bandwidth for intense data analysis. In making that point at a recent meeting of NeuGroup for Mid-Cap Treasurers sponsored by HighRadius, Jeff Martini, interim CFO of Bishop Lifting Products,…
FP&ATechnology
April 28, 2022

Technology as the Backbone of Change

The importance of harnessing big data and implementing a holistic solution to drive finance transformation and process optimization. The pandemic exposed the deficiencies in many companies’ planning processes and technology infrastructures. As events unfolded at a breakneck pace, FP&A leaders were expected to deliver quick insight to support critical strategic decisions. However, many were hampered by a lack of data visibility and inflexible and suboptimized forecasting and planning processes. According to members of NeuGroup for Large-Cap Heads of FP&A, which met in Atlanta…
FXTechnology
April 27, 2022

AtlasFX: Empowering FX Data Masters

Scott Bilter, CFO of AtlasFX, discusses how the company’s platform helps corporates manage currency risk in an interview with NeuGroup founder and CEO Joseph Neu. At a recent NeuGroup meeting, FX risk managers compared notes on which systems and technology they use to identify currency exposures and reduce risk. One member said that after weighing several options, his company picked AtlasFX, in part because its founders—Jonathan Tunney, Gavin O’Donoghue and Scott Bilter—impressed him with their subject matter expertise about FX…
TechnologyTreasury Management
April 21, 2022

Stepping-stones to Treasury’s Future Operating Model

Treasurers seeking to align with the rest of the finance org are turning to centers of excellence and shared service centers.Shifting activities to centers of excellence (COEs) and shared service centers (SSCs) figures prominently in the plans of corporate treasury teams overhauling or refining their operating models to, in some cases, better align with the rest of a multinational’s global finance organization. That takeaway surfaced during a session at a recent meeting of NeuGroup for Mega-Cap Treasurers that featured two…
Senior ExecutiveTechnology
April 21, 2022

AI-Enabled Analytics Drives Faster, Better Decision-Making

Author Larry Maisel says advanced analytics fueled by AI helps finance teams explain why something happened, what may happen next and what action to take to prepare for it.NeuGroup managing director Nilly Essaides recently interviewed Larry Maisel, an analytics expert and president of DecisionVu, about his recently published book, AI-Enabled Analytics: A Roadmap for Becoming an Analytics Powerhouse. The book, co-authored with Robert J. Zwerling and Jesper H. Sorensen, focuses on how to leverage advanced analytics to drive unbiased and…
FXTechnology
March 17, 2022

Assembly Required: Closing Loops by Building Automations

One member, challenged to create a solution without external resources, automated FX processes through in-house ‘citizen developers.’While a TMS can offer an integrated treasury technology solution, no single system can support the full range of automation requirements. In the case of one fast-growing, high-tech NeuGroup member company, the deficits surfaced in the area of FX transaction management and reporting. Faced with a need to improve the process, shorten cycle time and reduce cost with no additional resources, the company decided to…
FP&ATechnology
March 3, 2022

Crunch Time: Extreme Uncertainty Raises the Stakes for FP&A

To become strategic business partners, FP&A leaders must provide data-driven insight to support critical decisions.Like the pandemic, the crisis in Ukraine is forcing companies to rethink their business and financial plans. While the worst financial repercussions of the sanctions are within Russia, the impact of the crisis goes far beyond. Spikes in oil prices and inflation are throwing into question companies’ annual budgets, changing forecasting assumptions and making it imperative that FP&A realizes its potential as a strategic advisor to the…
Technology
March 3, 2022

Market Disruption Ahead: The Future of Treasury Technology

Survey data shows treasury is moving to the cloud but still leaning away from the tech direction finance is heading.NeuGroup Peer Research data shows that while finance organizations are rapidly embracing advanced analytic tools, robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning, treasury teams—which are moving rapidly into the cloud—appear convinced that treasury management systems (TMSs) will remain the centerpiece of treasury technology despite market disruption that suggests otherwise. That analysis provides context for a key takeaway of the 2022 NeuGroup…
TechnologyTreasury Management
February 24, 2022

Treasury Reimagined

Treasury must reinvent its role within finance or risk losing significant head count.By Nilly EssaidesTechnological advances and growth in the use of shared services centers (SSCs) are threatening to strip treasury of much of its operational activities. As automation supplants manual work and low-value activities migrate to SSCs, treasury may lose relevancy and staff. The tidal wave of digital transformation sweeping treasury means that smart automations like AI will replace current systems and the people who work with them.An existential threat.…