CFOs are not Born. They need to Continually Transform.

Best Ways to Keep Customers From Leaving

Existing customers seldom jump ship because of price or functionality. Here’s the real reason they booted you out.

Most people think that selling means getting new customers. That’s part of the job, of course, but truly successful companies thrive on their ability to keep the customers they’ve already acquired.

The reason is simple.

The Post-Employee Economy: Why Sky-High Profits Are Here to Stay

The end of the age of consumption and the decreasing need for labor are more related than you think.

Robots have come to destroy our way of life, just as we saw in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, though not as we expected. They’re taking our jobs, and are forcing us to reexamine how we value ourselves.

Attack of the Covert Commercials

Digital ads are popping up in irritating places.

And everyone hates digital ads. Yet the ads pay for the free apps that people love to download. Small wonder that crafty firms are slipping them into unexpected places. And that is why, on July 12th, America’s Department of Commerce will hold a public meeting in Washington, DC, to discuss this and other aspects of mobile privacy.

Surfing The Disturbance

Mike Tyson probably said it best: “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.”

The future of business is the martial arts CEO, the jujitsu strategist. Far too many organizations approach business with an American football mentality, complete with scripted plays, huddles and time outs, but the real world isn’t quite so convenient and accommodating.

Is Reputational Risk a C-Suite Priority?

Finance chiefs tend to underrate the importance of preserving their companies’ good names – until something really bad happens.

The importance of reputational risk to a company and the methods of quantifying it are frequently studied and debated. One recent survey, however, found that reputational risk is not rated a top concern among company executives.

The 2012 Excellence in Risk Management Survey, a study released this spring by the Risk and Insurance Management Society and Marsh, the big insurance broker, found that members of the C-suite who were polled globally placed brand and reputation as number 16 on their list of concerns. Their top concern was legal or regulatory shifts. Cash-flow liquidity was ranked second.

But one CFO whose company had a close call has no doubt about the value of reputation and the lengths to which a company should go to protect it.

Overcoming Unproductive Time in Budgeting, Forecasting and Planning

It’s no secret that business and finance professionals are spending too much time on mundane tasks, and not enough on delivering insight and other value-added activities.

A recent survey shows that while the process of generating budgets, plans and forecasts has stayed relatively static, business professionals are spending increasing amounts of time wrangling data and manipulating inadequate toolsets to deliver the budgets, forecasts and strategic plans that drive company decision making.

Where does all the time go?

Death By a Thousand Analytics

There are facts, we are told.

And if we have all the facts and we apply comprehensive analytics, we will discover the past, understand the present and predict the future. We are told this is the scientific method; the truth is in the numbers. Is this a valid way of interpreting the way the world works? I would argue that it is so far from reality that we are in danger of creating a fantasy world worthy of Tolkien.

The Voice of the Customer Lies Hidden In Your Unstructured Data

Why is the customer’s voice so important?

First of all, you want to keep them as your customer. Secondly the customer has become your unpaid sales staff. It is called word of mouth. Happy customers will recommend you to others, and consumers tend to listen to their friends (especially millennials). Lastly the customer is a testing ground for your products and services by providing feedback on new offerings. You don’t want to believe that you are conducting tests on your customers but that is exactly what happens. Customer feedback is necessary for continual improvement, and continual improvement is necessary to keep pace with your competitors.

All the information we gather about our customer’s experiences is important when it comes to improvements, reputation and ultimately, the bottom line.