The growing importance of data for CFOs

There is a growing trend of finance leaders tapping into data and analytics to make more data-driven decisions for their organisations.

Leroy Daniel, commercial sales leader at BlackLine spoke to Digital Nation about the importance of data and analytics when it comes to digital decision making.

Daniel said when a leader is considering data and analytics, they need to focus on what the purpose is to inform decision-making.

“Many times, when you are making decisions, you need to be confident in the data that you're analysing information from. That is where CFOs and finance leaders start questioning the data and the integrity that represents because it has a trickle-down effect on the decisions they need to make,” Daniel explained.

“This is where BlackLine comes in to essentially help reconcile and substantiate that data, have all the right checks and balances in place so that when you are utilising datasets that come out of BlackLine, they're confident in the financials and that helps you inform your decision making.”

Daniel uses the example of one of BlackLine’s customers Village Roadshow.

“They are a multifaceted business, they've got multiple business verticals, all of them with their own unique traits,” he said.

“Having to reconcile information at those individual business levels and then having a group consolidated view, gave the finance leaders the confidence they needed when it comes to making sort of data-driven decisions.

"That is where having confident financials make a big difference.”

Another BlackLine customer, non-bank finance lender Resimac has been on a growth trajectory with offices in both Australia and Asia.

Daniel said Resimac has been taking advantage of data to make better decisions. 

“For the group financial controller that I've been working with, he mentioned that like him, there's complete visibility across the entire process. Everyone knows whether they're also responsible as part of the process, and essentially are able to make informed decisions,” he said.

“Effectively, he's got a mantra where he can actually drive accountability through visibility. Those are some of the advantages of data-driven decision-making with CFOs and finance leaders.”

To learn more about the impact of digital on CFOs, read the Digital As Usual report today.