Bharadwaj Raghavendran, Senior Business Controller & Global Commercial Spend Productivity Program Manager, The HEINEKEN Company
Finance business partners have access to a lot more data points than the traditional financial information to help shape critical business decisions.
However, given the realities of time and analytical capacity (resource) constraints, we are forced to pick the most robust data points. This in turn usually leads to placing a premium on using few complete data-sets over many, partially complete yet representative data sets.
This tendency to know everything about a few things does generate useful insights to shape business decisions for the future. However, these tend to be directional rather than precise.
Our experience with applying AI at HEINEKEN is forcing us to change. AI tools have taken away the analytical capacity constraint we had. This makes it possible to use a diverse range of partial, yet representative data sets to make statistically robust analyses, at scale, for the first time. The resulting insights are a lot more precise, nuanced and valuable.
The lessons we learnt along the way have re-shaped how I imagine the value and the role of Finance Business Partners in securing it. I’m looking forward to sharing some of these with you at the WFF in Amsterdam
Ana Caria, CFO, Dexter Energy
Igor Curic, StartUp CFO
Nikhil Thakur, Head of Finance, Figment
Andreu Laban Pages, Director, Supply Chain Finance, Kraft Heinz
Arjun Srinivasan, Head of Finance – NEE Mobility, Uber
In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, finance leaders play a pivotal role in enabling their organizations to adapt, innovate, and seize opportunities while effectively managing risks. This panel will discuss strategies for fostering business agility through financial leadership and look at questions such as:
Moderator: Ravi Santokhi, EPM Lead Consultant, Finext
Kavita Singh, Senior FP&A Analyst, international, FedEx
Marco Antonio Fini, FP&A Senior Manager, Bunge Loders Croklaan
No longer does financial planning just sit with finance, it spans the entire organisation to deliver integrated, automated, streamlined, and accurate business planning, reporting and cross-department insight. This panel will discuss why planning and analysis needs to evolve and what xP&A involves with discussion points including:
Angelique Odendaal, Financial Director, ACT Commodities Group
How effectively are you leveraging technology and data analytics to improve your finance ops? The benefits of using data to inform decision-making and identify areas for cost savings are within your grasp, but without a skilled team behind you to dig into the data and sort through the noise to find the answers you will miss out on the opportunities to harness this information and build effective transformation.
Angelique will use her own career and experiences to provide insights and guidance for leaders looking to enhance their financial operations through tech and data-driven approaches.
Moderator: Katekani Mabasi, Global M&A Senior Finance Lead-Philips International B.V, Philips
Michael Greve, Finance Director Operations EMEA a.i., Quaker Houghton
Joao Almeida, CFO: Hubs, A.P. Moller Maersk
Camille Eliseo, Finance Business Partner for Sustainability and New Projects, Decathlon
Ellen Dooms, CFO, Benelux, L’Oréal
Finance must have a close working relationship with all other areas of the organisation – this panel will discuss effective ways to foster that relationship, common challenges faced in the c-suite, and how to build a dynamic and agile business with finance leading from the front.
