Research

Previous APQC research has shown that future finance professionals will need skills in the areas of business process management, technology and automation, and advanced analytics. To expound on these findings, APQC conducted research into the talent needs of the future finance function. This research explores the most important skills for future finance professionals to possess and which talent management approaches—recruiting, development, and retention—finance functions are using to prepare. The research helps identify best practices for recruiting, developing, and retaining finance talent to meet evolving business needs.

In partnership with ERM subject matter expert and thought leader Dr. Paul Walker (Schiro/Zurich Chair in Enterprise Risk Management at St. John’s University), APQC launched its Evolving Practices in Enterprise Risk Management study to understand the current practices and tools of enterprise risk management (ERM) at organizations and how these practices are evolving in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project gathered both survey as well as interview data and focused on the following scope areas: ERM processes and practices; what organizations do to drive a culture of ERM; ERM tools and technology for understanding, modeling, and reporting risk; and how ERM teams measure their success and demonstrate the value of ERM in their organizations.

Business closures over the past year necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in many back-office professionals working remotely, and APQC’s research finds that the virtual work phenomenon is expected to continue, with more and more finance professionals working in hybrid work environments (e.g., part-time in the office, part-time virtual). And as a result, many finance processes, such as closing the books, and the external audit of the financial statements, by necessity were also conducted virtually over the past year, resulting in some unanticipated challenges that had to be dealt with as well as unanticipated benefits. The purpose of this research collection is to convene/curate content to help finance functions conduct their processes better in the more virtual world of the future.

This research showcases findings from APQC's Current State of the HR Function Survey. Use the resources in the collection to understand how top performing HR functions handle core aspects of HR, including strategy, structure, staff, processes, technology, and analytics.

Companies are increasing their focus on improving and expanding their DEI efforts across the organization. Using a survey and case studies, this research examined common DEI practices and challenges and identified key requirements for supporting DEI in spirit and practice. Using the research findings, organizations will be able to benchmark their DEI practices and progress against peer and best-in-class organizations.

APQC’s Knowledge Flow Process is a seven-step cycle describing how knowledge is created, identified, collected, reviewed, shared, accessed, and used within organizations. This collection brings together articles and resources related to the Knowledge Flow Process, including a framework to help you understand and manage knowledge flow and best practices for each of the seven steps.

The content in this collection is derived from APQC's 2023 annual research into knowledge management priorities and challenges. In this research, we provide a "pulse check" on the current state of knowledge management and explore its future.

KM programs are changing quickly, and KM leaders need up-to-date benchmarks to understand those changes and guide their programs in the best possible direction. This research explores how KM programs are currently structured, their investments in people, processes, and technology, and how those investments translate into ROI.

This research focuses on KM’s relationship with internal customer groups and how KM is applied in different parts of the business. APQC looks at which areas of the organization are ideal strategic targets for KM, which require specialized KM support, and how KM should work with each stakeholder group to help it protect and manage its knowledge.

In May 2023, APQC conducted its bi-annual “Best Practices in Process Frameworks” survey to learn how organizations are using process frameworks, the common adoption practices, implementation practices, and the challenges involved.

At its core, change management is the act of proactively managing change and minimizing the resistance to organizational change through a set of structured processes or set of approaches to transition employees, teams, or an entire organization to a desired future state. However, as you may have heard before, change is hard. Organizations continue to struggle with effectively implementing change. This research explores the common practices and effectiveness of key change management components.

In December of 2022, APQC conducted a survey to understand the common challenges and priorities of process and performance management (PPM) practitioners. This study explores trends in process work and the intersection with data and technology for process management professions in the new business environment, and reveals the top five priorities and challenges in process management, organizational performance management, and more.

This research draws insights from APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking in procurement and yields new content and tools for APQC members. The collection includes both cross-industry and industry-specific reports on various practices in procurement.

APQC conducts ongoing research in the logistics area to help organizations assess and compare their logistics performance. This collection of research includes key benchmarks as well as details about the current state of selected logistics practices, including last-mile delivery, digital transformation, data management, and more. In addition to cross-industry analysis, this research also includes industry-specific reports.