Business Demand For Integrated Financial Intelligence On the Rise

Teradata has announced the results of a new survey of financial analysts indicating that a growing number of finance and information technology organisations recognise the value of centralising cross-enterprise financial and operational data and automating its analysis.

A key finding is that even the best ERP systems, while delivering important operational and transaction processing value, do not enable the critical analytical flexibility and detailed insight that financial analysts now require.

71% of 360 respondents said they struggle to collect data from multiple sources and perform analyses needed to answer unanticipated financial performance questions. On a related note, nearly 50% reported difficulty trying to integrate ERP data with other critical operational and legacy system information. These challenges limit visibility into business dynamics affecting financial results, and delay actions that can improve corporate performance.

Among the survey respondents, the most popular approaches to improving the effectiveness of the finance function include: ERP application upgrades, cross-enterprise process standardisation and the implementation of enterprise data warehouses.

According to Jeff Lovett, director of Finance and Performance Management Solutions marketing for Teradata, “This survey indicates that many finance professionals realise the need for additional technologies that will help them get a single, integrated view that provides the actionable intelligence needed to effectively manage business performance.”