When life sciences leaders convened for Informa Connect’s Finance and Accounting Bioscience Companies conference, finance data management and data citizenship were key discussion points. Given the criticality and integrity of data flows from a variety of internal and external sources, finance and accounting teams continue to search for ways to optimize their data systems, processes, and, ultimately, culture, to unlock transformative value for the business.
At the conference, CrossCountry Consulting’s Finance Transformation experts moderated a panel with Chroma Medicine to highlight exactly how to approach a people-first finance data strategy. Below are some of the key takeaways.
Biotech’s Unique Finance Data Challenges
Given the niche dynamics and complexities of the industry, biotech firms face a host of data demands within their finance functions in addition to agnostic data challenges. As discussed in the panel, those include:
- A lack of high-quality data sources and integrations.
- Accelerating time-to-value in R&D.
- Adopting and scaling comprehensive data strategies and systems across functions.
- Pricing pressures and their impact on R&D innovation.
- Extracting value from generative AI and other emerging technologies.
While these challenges place added burdens on industry teams, every company can build momentum toward finance data transformation by taking stock of current-state capabilities and making incremental progress toward a successful target state.
Data Strategy Through a Strong People Strategy
Designing a data strategy that meets the needs of the finance function and creates value for the business must be anchored in staff empowerment. Leading biotech firms can implement a citizen-led data strategy in which a small group uses data to drive change, inspiring more participation and building a positive “snowball effect” over time. This approach unlocks enterprise data literacy and significant time savings as team after team is educated and equipped with the framework to perform at a higher level.
Beginning this journey includes:
- Forming a core group of “automation champions.” This automation Center of Excellence (CoE) should consist of team members with the most in-depth process knowledge of finance and data workflows. They have a vested interest due to their experience and are best positioned to make the business case for encouraging the deployment and adoption of automation tools. This will allow staff to collaboratively learn from others inside and outside their functions, as opposed to taking a top-down approach.
- Building a dedicated “network of champions” within the CoE who help lead and maintain automation governance. This group can apply a unified framework to automation, establish controls, and ensure consistent prioritization across teams.
- Designing a continuous upskilling culture that teaches the fundamentals of the company’s data strategy. With a firm understanding of the strategy, people will better appreciate the role they play and how they can accelerate processes and outcomes in alignment with the strategy. In this mindset, staff are working alongside data best practices rather than introducing contradictory processes or stifling the full value of a coherent data strategy.
It’s also important that organizations map their finance data and people strategies to the overarching enterprise data strategy – not viewing them as independent or siloed initiatives. These efforts should align, feed, and ladder up to a cohesive enterprise data framework to ensure rationalized technology solutions and higher probabilities of ROI.
Putting the Pieces Together
Companies interested in increasing the value Finance brings to the enterprise should identify the underlying activities and KPIs most critical to executive decision-making. Often, this boils down to day-to-day transactions, financial consolidation, data consolidation, planning and analytics, and reporting – all of which feed the insights leaders need to react quickly and think strategically as events unfold.
For expert support achieving the full benefits of data within your organization, contact CrossCountry Consulting.