This week my 5 favorite business and strategy post cover:
- Why a retooled FP&A (Finance Planning & Analysis) is retaking a prominent seat at the at the leadership table.
- Gaining business activity clarity by leveraging your CRM process to fuel accurate sales projections.
- New business model generation – media and technology their never ending adoption path.
As, always I’m looking to share with you quality information that helps increase your business development skills, enhance your level of business model innovation, and ultimately the quality of your professional relationships.
If you enjoy my weekend summary and would like even more practical, useable links than the five I highlight here every week, follow me on Twitter @DonaldMcMichael.
Good stuff I discover this week:
The New Talent Mix
Get your FP&A on… the mix redone MBA, CPA, FP&A. CFOs look to bolster their strategic facet by hiring more Financial Planning & Analysis help. Now that they have their Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance processes in place and some believe that they are seeing some light at the end of the current recessionary tunnel attention is turning toward delivering profitable bottom line growth. One of the differences this time is that not only is superior analytical skills expected practitioners must also demonstrate influencing skills. Why is this? Such a person is better able to cut through the high level of business conservatism (fear) to have their strategic advice heard.
Accurate Sales Forecasts and Other CRM Fantasies
I don’t think that anyone would argue that in order to have an accurate sales forecasting process there are a lot of prerequisites, active salesperson participation, inclusion of external data, and pattern recognition based off of historical behavior. This all requires a significant amount of customization and testing. The good news is that once in place they shouldn’t have a lot of moving parts. This post gives you a head start on what to look at what jus will not be.
The Future of Publishing
…don’t call it a comeback. There is no doubt that the disruptive forces of the internet and the economic crash of 2008 shook the media world to its core. In this post Gary Satell (aka Digital Tonto) debunks the myths around the impending demise of print media and provides a perspective on the way it’s moving forward.
The Thought Leader Interview: Bob Carrigan
Media pioneer Bob Carrigan, of IDG Communications and the Interactive Advertising Bureau, explains why new media is the most optimistic part of the economy.
Accenture: High Tech Firms Need Multiple Business Models
The cloud changes much more than we have been prepared to admit. One business model per entity doesn’t cut it anymore.