^The APQC Blog

In the CFO Magazine’s 2018 Metric of the Month article, APQC’s CFO Perry D. Wiggins shares how top performing finance organizations are dramatically faster on the cycle time to monthly close. They are achieving these gains by better data governance, common data definitions, and standardized charts of accounts. They standardize the monthly close and move tasks to optimal times.

I remember the first time I watched a TED talk. I was mesmerized by the story, wondering who this person was and how they kept me curious, attentive, and engaged. The speaker masterfully wove together a personal vignette and linked it with a broader theme to captivate my attention. My emotions were captured, I was transported into another person’s world, and above all, I was now an advocate for this way of learning and communicating. Years later, I can’t remember who it was or the topic discussed, but I remember how I felt.

As consumers of the toys and games carried at Toys R Us, many people I know are eager to take advantage of closeout sales as the largest independent toy seller in the United States prepares for liquidation.

On a recent APQC webinar, Georg Lange described his experience digitalizing the HR function at global agribusiness Syngenta. I asked Georg to answer some basic questions on this emerging topic. Following are his answers about why HR digitalization matters to all. 

Last week I had the pleasure of recording a podcast with Stan Garfield, a long-time community leader, experienced speaker, and prolific author in the knowledge management space. I asked Stan about the latest developments in knowledge management, and he shared his top 10 list of trends and hot topics.

Strategic planning is not just for the business world. While strategic plans have been around in the education sector since the 1980s, it’s not as commonly known.

There are moments in your life that are seared into your memory. This usually happens because they either fundamentally change how you think about or tie together fragmented ideas you hold about the world around you. The underlying rules and patterns of existence. For me one of those moments was the introduction of the paradigm shift concept. The first time I ever heard the phrase paradigm shift was, ironically, in a literature class. Here we were introduced to Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the Kuhn Cycle, and the concept of paradigm shifts.

One of the biggest problems in organizations is that people are afraid to speak up. This fear leads to bad decisions, bad feelings, lost opportunities, and disengaged employees. It’s an epidemic. It is especially poignant for those of us who are so passionately committed to knowledge sharing.

How can we help people feel safe to share opinions and information?

There are many benefits that organizations can realize by leveraging a shared services delivery model for finance transaction processing, such as increased efficiencies, reduced costs, and increased productivity. For example, consider the following efficiency and cost metrics for the overall finance function from APQC’s last finance shared services data collection conducted in conjunction with management consultancy ScottMadden:

Knowing where you stand is the first step to finding ways to improve your organization’s supply chain planning processes. And once you understand your baseline, benchmarking enables you to identify gaps, find successful practices that drive higher performance, and then establish realistic goals.

For a balanced look at your supply chain planning efforts, APQC recommends four key performance indicators (KPIs).

Cost Effectiveness