Today’s CFO faces myriad challenges, from ongoing monitoring of business performance, analysis and decision making, to quality of financial data, sharing of relevant information and accuracy in compliance. CFOs are starting to question the current paradigms of business intelligence (BI). Many organizations, however, are finding answers in a new breed of “full-stack” BI solutions that embed analytics, IT, domain expertise and other capabilities into their business processes.

1. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
From Data to Insight – how “full-stack”
BI operations enable CFOs to thrive
in today’s rapidly evolving business
environment
Genpact
Today’s CFO faces myriad challenges, from ongoing monitoring of business
performance, analysis and decision making, to quality of financial data, sharing of
relevant information and accuracy in compliance. CFOs are starting to question
the current paradigms of business intelligence (BI). They find them biased towards
technology-only solutions, their implementation is lengthy and inflexible and
most importantly, they often neglect a thorough analysis and prioritization of the
measurement of key business performance metrics before closing on the BI design and
implementation. This can prevent CFOs from truly embedding business intelligence
into their company’s operations. Many organizations, however, are finding answers in
a new breed of “full-stack” BI solutions that embed analytics, IT, domain expertise and
other capabilities into their business processes.
Overview
The CFO’s role has historically been focused on preserving the
integrity of the financial data. Today, the landscape is changing.
Technology is allowing CFOs real-time access to strategic data.
The insight such data provides has the potential to drive more
timely market-driven decisions, allowing the CFO to take on
greater responsibilities. In many cases, the traditional CFO role is
transforming to include greater involvement in setting corporate
direction, strategy and creating long-term shareholder value.
External Stakeholders
Reporting and guidance
(financial, non-financial)
Forecast, Report
(financial, nonfinancial)
Revenue,
Working Capital
(AR), sales
projections
Sales &
marketing
CEO, Board
Short- and long-term
expectations of revenue and
earnings growth; strategic
initiatives
Working
Capital (AP)
Finance
Budget, KPIs,
allocation and
monitoring of
OP/CAPEX,
Inventory
CFOs are at pivotal intersection of cross-functional data
highways, strategy and enterprise performance management.
Performance expectations
(financial, non-financial)
COGS (short
and long term)
and respective
risk,
EHS risks
Procurement
Operations
COGS for pricing (short and
medium term),
Projected service-levels, NPI
pipeline and strategy
(mfg, facilities)
Demand and availability of
production inputs (commodities,
energy, components), respective
short and medium term price
Figure 1. CFOs are at pivotal intersection of cross-functional data highways,
strategy and enterprise performance management

2. The evolution of
The business intelligence on a
CFO’s desk is often the only place the CFO from
where significant financial and
scorekeeper to
operational data come together
business partner
— combining asset usage intensity
comes at an
and profitability and not just
opportune time.
revenue. However, the visibility
The demands of
of such data and the ability to
analytically aggregate them and business, competitive
process them at scale, is limited
and regulatory
by many constraints starting with pressure in today’s
(despite many years of investment economically
in tools) technology itself.
challenging
environment are forcing organizations to become smarter and
more efficient about the use of information.
Today, the ability to extract, integrate, analyze and interpret
business information in a timely, proactive way is an increasingly
important factor for organizations. Advanced business
intelligence solutions can help CFOs make better use of both
time and data. The most successful businesses are going
beyond traditional BI tools to “full-stack” BI operations that
encompass analytics, IT, domain expertise and process delivery.
Such tools are seeing rapid growth in today’s tight economy,
driven by intense competitive pressures.
This white paper examines how CFOs are using advanced
BI tools to improve decision-making, identify new business
opportunities, maximize cost savings and detect inefficient
business processes.
Yet statistics indicate most CFOs are struggling to balance
Typical BI challenges
new and old roles. According to a recent survey conducted by
Traditional BI approaches are typically technology driven. As
Genpact, 51% of the average CFO’s time today is spent on
a result, they often are not prioritized or designed based on
transactional activities and only 21% on decision-making support.
performance-critical metrics and related business processes.
Today’s CFOs sit at a crossroad of data that can be used not just
This in turn limits their ability to embed intelligence into the
for reporting and compliance, but also for prediction of future
enterprise’s operations.
risks and trends. The business intelligence on a CFO’s desk is
The typical BI architecture within a finance organization is
often the only place where significant financial and operational
complex. As a consequence, there is often a significant gap
between what is important for the finance function and how
Inaccurate forecasts
due to limited visibility
and, often, poor data
quality; limited time
spent on ‘insights’ and
‘decisions’ due to poor
data-readiness
Revenue,
Working Capital
(AR), sales
projections
Low
confidence
in revenue
and margin
forecast due
to inaccurate
data
Forecast,
Report
(financial,
nonfinancial)
Lower budget/
planning confidence,
Investment rate
hurdle doesn’t reflect
all risk; ineffective
strategy execution
against KPIs
Sales &
marketing
Silo based data,
limited crossfunctional visibility
often leads to
inaccurate COGS
COGS for pricing
(short and medium
term),
Projected servicelevels, NPI pipeline
and strategy
SIMPLIFIED
CEO, Board, other
stakeholders
Short- and longterm expectations
of revenue
and earnings
growth; strategic
initiatives
For instance, while the ability to deliver consistent data
Limited/silo visibility
and poor dataquality can impair
prioritization; induce
errors in judgments
Limited, static, and
aggregate view of
production level, risk,
Static
and cost visibility leads
Working visibility and
to ‘approximate’
Capital ‘high-level’
suboptimal budget
(AR)
allocations
allocations
lead to
COGS (short
sub-optimal
working
and long
Procurement
capital
term) and
Finance
Budget, KPIs,
allocation and
monitoring of
OP/CAPEX,
Inventory
respective
risk,
EHS risks
Operations
Complexity often
clouds the impact on
COGS and margins
for tactical
decision making
and reporting
well it is executed.
reporting is high on important (64%) for most organizations,
their ability to successfully execute if dramatically low (16%).
Similar scenarios exist for other important areas such as
budgeting and planning, financial and statutory reporting,
and compliance and controls, where the ability to execute is
significantly low as opposed to the strategic importance to the
function.
Which is why, the CFO’s imperatives around business insight,
Demand and
availability of
production inputs
(commodities,
energy,
components),
respective short and
medium term price
Figure 2. Robust BI enables CFOs to anticipate, account for, and possibly mitigate
the impact of adverse incidents and trends.
compliance and efficiency require a robust BI solution. For
example:
• Business insight: Approximately 57% of finance executives
feel that the lack of timeliness and accuracy of non-financial
data is a concern. The inability to correlate different data
sets coming from different parts of the organization, such
data come together — combining asset usage intensity and
as divisional sales with product and client profitability data,
profitability and not just revenue. However, the visibility of such
inhibits the ability to maximize profits.
data and the ability to analytically aggregate them and process
• Compliance: Today’s CFO is typically responsible for a large
them at scale, is limited by many constraints starting with
number of stringent regulatory reports – each with a unique
(despite many years of investment in tools) technology itself.
format and reporting standard. Many of these reports require
CFOs need to conquer the increasing complexity of their roles
high quality data – accuracy and alignment is crucial. A
and enable a coordinated approach based on intelligent business
robust BI solution enables automated exception management
information that enables them to anticipate, account for, and
for simple cases and facilitates informed collaboration on
possibly mitigate the impact of adverse incidents and trends.
complex cases.

3. • Efficiency: The enterprise data infrastructure is increasingly
complex, and diversity of management information is
increasingly being required by decision makers. There is also
rising demand for efficiency and flexibility of the finance
function, along with continued pressure to curb costs.
“Process-driven” BI puts an emphasis on embedding analytics
a unique format and reporting standard – makes this increasingly
important.
Advanced BI solutions can also improve the management of
enterprise performance, thanks to enhanced decision and
Strategy
(re)Design and Build
into the enterprise operations as well as a unified approach
PREDICTIVE, DESCRIPTIVE,
An
Ca alyti
pab ca
iliti l
es
to enterprise data management. Using end-to-end business
processes, their outcome-relevant metrics and related factors as
Non-Automated
Reports
(standard, ad-hoc,
user driven)
*BI Automation/Platform
(data model and automated
reporting layer)
Enterprise Data Management and
Warehouse
(Infrastructure layer)
Data consolidation and
reconciliation
Cascade KPIs, identify
thresholds and key “if-then”
Account and
Compute
Report
Set
Targets
Correct
Strategy
Dashboards
for key
stakeholders
BI REPORTING
• Operational/production reporting, BPM scorecards
• Data visualization and dashboards
• In-memory OLAP, mobile BI, self-service BI
• Data dissemination (downstream flows)
• Specialized functional solutions
y
ENTERPRISE DATA MANAGEMENT AND WAREHOUSE
• Master data management
• Data governance and quality
• ETL and BPM integration
• Data warehouse appliances and federation
• Big Data integration
*Includes Self Service BI, OLAP – online analytical processing, BPM – business process
management, ETL – extract, transform and load
Figure 5. “Full-stack” Business Intelligence solutions throughout the BI lifecycle.
reporting processes (e.g. days to close, access to right reports by
Gather Feedback
BI, ERP,
UC&C
Implement enterprise
data and BI enablers,
program rules (typical
starting point)
EXECUTE
Implement
Initiatives
PROCESSES
Internal and
external
ecosystem
refines questions,
hypotheses
(recommended
starting point)
DECISION PROCESS REENGINEERING
• Redesign of process related to data sourcing, maintenance, processing,
and use
ics
lyt y
na sor
d A Advi ss
an
e g
BI
oc
Pr erin
ion ne
cis ngi
De Ree
really matters — a subset of metrics, processes and people.
Bu
Int sine
elli
s
gen s
ce
departure from the usual “requirement-to-configuration”
AND SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS
PROCESS -DRIVEN BI AND ANALYTICS ADVISORY
• Enterprise information and data-management strategy
• Big Data strategy
Statistical and
Social Media
Analysis
a lens to plan for business intelligence needs can be a powerful
approach to BI. It enables the selective investment into what
Predictive
Models
Impact Insight Factory
Operate New
Processes
Analyze
and
Predict
Advanced
statistical
modeling
right decision makers) and improve efficiency by reducing manual
reporting efforts. A selective approach to business intelligence
reporting, as well as reengineering of faulty processes and the
Measure
Performance
Data extract,
cleanse,
standardize,
enhance
Enable decision making
at the “moment of
truth” e.g. CRM rules
establishment of appropriate delivery models to cleanse data,
enables the reduction of data management costs.
Advanced BI operations in practice
The following examples demonstrate how a number of
businesses have recently put robust BI solutions in place to help
Figure 4. “Closed-loop” BI is a business process, not an IT or statistical discipline,
and requires robust operations in the background.
Benefits of a “full-stack” approach
To be most effective, the solution should encompass a “full-
them address a variety of business challenges.
CFO Challenge: A global financial services company
had a tedious reporting process that was not suited to
accommodate the growth of the company.
stack” of analytics, technology, data management, domain
Solution: A new, robust BI solution now allows the CFO
expertise, process management and delivery. A “full-stack” BI
insight into the entire business.
solution enables actionable business intelligence. Such solutions
are driven not by the feature of the BI tool, but by performance
Enterprise-wide closing and consolidation
drivers and related business intelligence generation enabling
The Asia-Pacific geographic division of a global financial services
analytics embedded into
company depended heavily on its parent business for reporting. The
A “full-stack” BI solution
business processes. This
enables actionable business
can allow a company to intelligence. Such solutions
enhance a number of
are driven not by the
procedures. For example, feature of the BI tool, but
by performance drivers and
regulatory compliance
related business intelligence
levels can be improved
generation enabling analytics
along with reduced
embedded into business
compliance costs. As
processes.
division had a tedious and repetitive reporting process that was not
scalable to support growth. In addition, the division had multiple
general ledgers (GLs) and wanted to move to a phased, singleinstance GL. Given the parent company’s complexity ($24 billion in
assets, a presence in over 10 countries and 100,000 customers), the
transition was challenging.
To address these challenges, the division adopted a robust BI solution
that included a reporting system with three Hyperion cubes – closing
mentioned previously, the
and consolidation models and a data entry cube. Doing so allowed
large number of stringent regulatory reports that are required
the division to replicate the corporate reporting model. It also
today, for example in financial services or health care, – each with
enabled it to make a smooth transition to a new GL at no extra cost.

4. The division now conducts data sourcing from multiple GLs with
over the counter theoretical prices. Sophis was the central hub
trigger files to determine source data refresh. The solution allows for:
that processed trade data and static data and returned the risk
• Hierarchy maintenance through a master data management tool
• Multiple currency reporting/analysis; automated solution using
AppWorx (a tool for process-dependent scheduling)
• Month-end, quarter-end, year-end reporting and analysis
While the division CFO could previously access only summary
level data, the BI solution now allows him or her insight into
the entire business. In addition, it has reduced analyst time
previously required due to time zone issues.
calculation and P&L data to various downstream systems for
reporting and reconciliation. The firm wanted to decommission
Sophis and replace it with a strategic in-house architecture
that would replicate Sophis’ functionality to ensure business
continuity.
The company collaborated with an industry expert to develop a
BI implementation that would allow it to achieve its goals. The
two companies then worked together to develop a proof of
concept for the new system and establish a decommissioning
CFO Challenge: A global oil and gas OEM used a
limited Excel-based financial planning process that was
inappropriate for the needs of its users.
roadmap for the Sophis Risque application.
Solution: Use of a common, user-friendly planning and
strategic system mapping, creation and implementation of
reporting tool has improved productivity.
feeds and feed elicitation with downstream systems.
Enterprise planning and budgeting implementation
A large, U.S.-based global oil and gas OEM engaged in the
manufacturing and servicing of heavy industry products was
challenged by a manual and error-prone Excel-based financial
planning process. The company also lacked a repository of
historic data for analysis and reference. Data maintenance was
an arduous task and variance reporting a significant challenge.
To address these challenges, the company adopted a Hyperion
planning system comprising three user streams and defined
workflow processes to allow for approval mechanisms. The
system defines the automated actual data load process for
baseline plan data. Users now input functional currency which
is then converted to reporting currency based on exchange
rates. The application allows users to adjust the plan input data
The company’s new, BI-based solution is completely metadata driven and features end-of-day feed analysis along with
CFO Challenge: A large investment bank wanted to
create a tool for their Value at Risk (VaR) Reporting Basel II
implementation.
Solution: A new BI-based solution easily analyzes risk
characteristics and enables numerous additional benefits.
Value at Risk Reporting for Basel II
A large investment bank wanted to create a tool for their Value
at Risk (VaR) Reporting Basel II implementation. The bank was
challenged in monitoring trading VaR limits for its businesses
and had inadequate visibility into potential losses at different
portfolio and sub-portfolio levels. The bank faced additional
challenges around data sourcing, integrity, data quality and
changing regulations.
with stretch to arrive at final plan data. It also includes a robust
To address these challenges, the bank implemented a
security design to accommodate platform users, regional users
scenario analysis tool to analyze risk characteristics (i.e. fund
and headquarter-based users, allowing them selective access to
sensitivity analysis based on change in both markets scenarios
data without losing workflow process functionality.
- LIBOR, credit spreads, ratings and holdings scenarios). The
As a result, the company has experienced improvements in
productivity and simplicity and now has a common, userfriendly planning and reporting tool.
CFO Challenge: A global financial firm wanted to create
an organizational risk-reporting platform.
Solution: A new BI-based solution is completely meta-data
driven and is allowing the company to achieve its goals.
tool includes VaR computations, historical simulations and
scenario generation in support of current needs. The tool
also evaluates risk metrics for money market funds based on
credit quality, quantity of securities in the fund and number of
shares outstanding. Finally, the analysis tool includes QA and
production support for regulatory change implementations.
Conclusion
In addition to maintaining financial integrity, today’s enterprising
CFOs have the opportunity to empower companies. As their
Risk reporting platform development
role expands and the CFO plays a larger part in a company’s
A U.S.-based global financial firm was looking to create an
success or failure, it is more important than ever to ensure they
organizational risk-reporting platform. The client used the
have the tools needed to formulate real-time decisions that
Sophis Risque application to book trade, calculate P&L, risks and
advance the business.

5. “Full-stack” BI solutions cover the entire BI, thanks to the
Benefits of the solution include improved regulatory compliance
combination of process analysis, organizational/operating
levels along with reduced compliance costs and effective
delivery model related to data processing and technology.
management of enterprise performance due to enhanced
It provides actionable insight driven not by the individual
decision and reporting processes.
features of BI tools, but by the performance drivers and related
processes of analytics embedded into business processes.
Genpact brings a thorough understanding of the performance
drivers and the related process of business intelligence
They cover the “full-stack” of BI – from enterprise data
management and warehousing to BI automation and platforms
(data modeling and automated reporting) and non-automated
reports (including ad-hoc analysis and user-driven reports).
Why Genpact
generation and usage (closed loop) to each assignment. This
includes the “full-stack” of data and analytics, with technology
and people-based support, creating solutions that are costeffective and offer superior scalability.
In addition, Genpact offers industrialized operations that are
Genpact’s “Integrated Business Intelligence Solutions” is a
unique approach to industrializing BI operations driven by its
thorough understanding of performance drivers and related
process of business intelligence generation and use. The
solutions encompasses analytics, technology, data management,
domain expertise and process management, covering the
“full-stack” of enterprise performance management, risk and
compliance, IT infrastructure, automated platforms, custom
reporting and analytics and related advisory and reengineering.
Integrated BI Solutions also includes technology and people-
robust and complement each client’s own capabilities. We have
adopted a scientific approach to business processes that enable
our analytics and embed them into your own processes. Genpact
employs one of the largest BI and analytics talent pools, with
more than 60,000 global associates in 18 countries who are
active in industrialized processes operations. Our team brings to
each assignment the experiences gained from managing more
than 4,700 processes for more than 700 clients across more than
40 industries. We have one of the highest satisfaction scores in
the industry and have a large pool of referenceable clients.
based support that results in superior scalability and costeffectiveness.
Business Intelligence Portfolio of Solutions for CFO
Risk and Compliance
Enterprise Performance Management
Planning
Data Management
Reporting
Management reporting
Profitability and risk analysis
Financial consolidation and reporting
Regulatory reporting
Planning
Operational reports leveraging ODS*/
Data Warehouse
(standard,
ad-hoc,
user driven)
BI
Automation
/ Platform*
Strategic and
Ext. Reporting
(data model,
automated
reporting)
Enterprise
Data Mgmt.
and
Warehouse
Data governance and quality
Data models
Master data management
Data extraction, transformations, and loading
Data Sources Integration
Infrastructure
Slice and dice, interactive analysis, root cause, cubes, what-if
BI Strategy, Advisory, and Process Re-engineering
NonAutomated
Reports
Consolidation
Business insights and impact opportunity
* Includes Self Service BI, ODS – operational data store

6. About Genpact
For more information, contact:
Genpact Limited (NYSE: G) is a global leader in transforming and running business processes and
operations, including those that are complex and industry-specific. Our mission is to help clients become
more competitive by making their enterprises more intelligent through becoming more adaptive, innovative,
globally effective and connected to their own clients. Genpact stands for Generating Impact – visible in
tighter cost management as well as better management of risk, regulations and growth for hundreds of
long-term clients including more than 100 of the Fortune Global 500. Our approach is distinctive – we offer
an unbiased, agile combination of smarter processes, crystallized in our Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPSM)
proprietary framework, along with analytics and technology, which limits upfront investments and enhances
future adaptability. We have global critical mass – 60,000+ employees in 24 countries with key management
and corporate offices in New York City – while remaining flexible and collaborative, and a management
team that drives client partnerships personally. Our history is unique – behind our single-minded passion for
process and operational excellence is the Lean and Six Sigma heritage of a former General Electric division
that has served GE businesses for more than 15 years.
business.intelligence@genpact.com
For more information, visit www.genpact.com. Follow Genpact on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Visit our website at:
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