Flexibility has become essential in the finance industry. Banks and financial institutions have been forced to pivot and adapt to an ever-changing digital landscape. Finance leaders are now looking ahead to plan for the future of the finance industry and optimize systems that allow them to navigate this new landscape.

On November 16th, Workday hosted Ready for Anything: Continuous FP&A for Future Disruption, a virtual panel discussion with FSI leaders centered around how FP&A is key to optimizing their business via forecasting and modeling, and ways institutions can remain agile by embracing a data-driven approach to work.

Here are a few important takeaways from the conversation:

1. Adapt to change

Paul Dulac from Merrill Lynch Wealth Management described his role as chameleon-like. “The one constant,” he said, “is change.”

Paul spoke about the transparency expected from clients and the decline in fees associated with greater transparency. He embraces new financial products that better meet client expectations.

2. Account for future variability

“We’ve really tried to create multiple scenarios to present to leadership and say, ‘Here’s a best-case, worst-case, and middle [strategy],’” said Craig Barattin of Healthfirst. “And, we’re coming up with modeling to help us make decisions on how to commit to a final target.”

Craig and his team have tried to account for the variability the company has experienced over the past two years and use the data they’ve aggregated to adjust models to better predict strategy going forward.

3. Present clients with the best solutions

“We will look at different scenarios,” said Alison Perrin of Ameriprise Financial Systems, “but when we actually present to that client, we chose the scenario that we feel is best.”

Alison expressed the importance of modeling different financial scenarios for a client, but ultimately her team is being paid to give advice. They want to present their best-case to each client and go forward from there.

4. Put clients first

Paul Dulac and his colleagues have a motto: “Service clients, retain them, and acquire new ones.” Paul uses this as a north star to help guide him through new strategies handed down from management.

“Those processes are always in place as the pillars,” he said, which has been important as their scope has expanded to include a greater range of financial planning services.

5. Offer owners greater flexibility

Craig Barattin has tried to empower owners with greater flexibility to create a business-forward approach. “We say, here are our expectations for what you’re going to build relative to your budget, and here are your targets. Then we have the tools in place to let them build their budgets to hit their targets.”

Craig and his team have taken a data and tech-driven approach that prioritizes adaptability, and they’re able to ensure expectations are being met with FP&A.

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