Financials

<p>Reporting as a function is ex post facto in nature, but its impact is far reaching and wide. The prime factor giving importance to reporting function is its ability to influence and impact decisions.</p><p>So, what would drive success for the &lsquo;best in class&rsquo; reporting function?</p><p>The points mentioned below can cover many of the problem statements, in my view:</p><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul><li>Data should speak the same language &mdash; across the organization</li><li>Collaboration and sharing at the &lsquo;Next level&rsquo;</li><li>Improvement in speed of execution</li></ul></li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We observe that in many BFSI organizations, similar reports are used by different divisions. This results in process inefficiencies. To address this, transformation initiatives are taken to consolidate reports that use the same databases in the back end.</p><p>Many organizations in the BFSI industry grow through mergers and acquisitions. As a result, they tend to have a constellation of systems and applications for a single chain of transactions, resulting in fragmented systems for master data and transaction data.</p><p>This challenge can be addressed by using FDM (Finance Data Modelling) platforms to harmonize data structures. FDM platforms can make data speak the same language across the organization.</p><p>Lean Sigma-led projects to harmonize KPIs for performance measurement and tracking can also come in to strengthen the transformation ecosystem.</p><p>Key transformation levers in the BFSI industry can be one or more combinations of the below levers:</p><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul><li>Creation of Centre of Excellence for Reporting Process</li><li>Reduction of Ad Hoc reports and include more reports as part of the BAU stream as possible</li><li>Introduction of common platforms for master data creation and transaction processing (Share points can be a handy tool to automate some of the compliance-driven processes)</li><li>Connect multiple platforms via APIs</li><li>Lean Six Sigma (Pure Play Process Led Transformation)</li><li>Redesign of communication channels to cut down inefficiencies due to complex hierarchies</li></ul></li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Case Study of a US-Based Custodian Banking Organization</strong></p><p><strong>Focus function &mdash; Billing</strong></p><p>The billing process was time-consuming and labor-intensive. So multi-dimensional approach was followed to improve and streamline the billing process.</p><p>Areas of billing that can contribute to leakages bottom line (items not billed) were explored and identified. This gave way to the introduction of a single platform to host billing master data and catalog, non-catalog billing items in it.</p><p>Opportunities were created to apply advanced analytics on legacy billing master data to identify patterns for areas like:</p><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul><li>Uncollected fees</li><li>Proportion of free services provided to clients</li><li>Unbilled catalog services</li><li>Potential uncollectable invoices</li></ul></li></ul><p>Many organizations also adopt advanced measures like fee improvement strategies at the leadership level. These measures can also be explored depending on the change management appetite of the organization. (e.g., Client classification on 2X2 Heat map on High Margin -Low Volume, Low Margin High Volume, Low Margin - Low Volume, High Margin-High Volume)</p><p>&nbsp;</p>