Is Data Science the Future of FP&A?
Advancements in technology, shifting expectations of stakeholders, and external factors can lead to a fusion of different functions within the enterprise. Sales and marketing are one clear example. There were clear lines between the role of a traditional marketer and a traditional salesperson not too long ago. If someone knocked on the door of a prospect, showed up for a meeting with a client to have a contract signed, or made a sales call there was no confusion that they belonged to the sales department. On the other hand, if you saw a television ad, you knew it was created by the marketing department.
We now operate in a business environment where salespeople behave more like marketers. One clear example is the push of the sales team to be more active on social media to create a personal brand. They focus on adding more followers on their social media platform and post new content regularly as a way to connect with a wider audience and generate more sales leads they can work on. Real Estate agents have had a beat on this convergence for some time now. They will close deals one day, and appear on a billboard the next.
Many SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) companies are driven by a model referred to as Product-Led or Product-Led-Growth (PLG). This is a model where the touch points made by a salesperson are limited or nonexistent. Instead, the vendor hooks clients 100% through marketing and branding and automates the check-out process similar to an e-commerce transaction.
Could this same mixture of functions soon impact the corporate finance department?
An article released one year ago is worth revisiting as this topic remains relevant today.
Consultancy.com.au released an article to explore how data scientists will soon reshape the corporate finance function.
They predict that soon data scientists will power the FP&A output including forecasts.