Dave Stark and Bob Green Co-Present on Data Strategy at the AICPA Corporate Finance and Controllers Conference

Dave Stark, President of Analysis Team, Inc. and Bob Green, Lead Partner of SingerLewak’s Business Informatics practice, co-presented a session at AICPA’s Corporate Finance and Controllers Online Conference, October 19 – 21, 2020.  This virtual event, for controllers and finance professionals, covered a range of topics such as leadership, financial planning and analysis, and technology.

Dave and Bob’s conference session, titled “Data Strategy: Its Vital Role in Successful Digital Transformation Projects” was presented on the first day of the conference, October 19.

Many things have to go right in order for digital transformation projects to succeed.  These projects (such as ERP and CRM implementations) often delay, disappoint, or fail entirely.  A frequent, yet avoidable reason for failure is the lack of a prudent, well-conceived Data Strategy.

A project-specific Data Strategy is developed once a business understands the information it owns, processes, controls, and needs – both in the present and in the future state.  A proper system implementation plan should incorporate elements of the Data Strategy – including the more challenging, time-consuming tasks of data cleansing, relevance assessments, migration and cut-over planning, and the like. Planning ahead and considering data in these projects earlier rather than later can increase your chances of success with the project, as well as providing more sustained value.

In this session Dave and Bob discussed success factors related to prudent, proactive and intelligent Data Strategy – as well as other success factors necessary for increasing your odds of a sustainable digital transformation project.  The presentation’s objectives were to:

  • Help attendees understand what a Data Strategy is, as related to a digital transformation project
  • Explain the value of incorporating a Data Strategy into the overall plan for a digital transformation project
  • Analyze the considerations that formulate a Data Strategy, and its impact on project-specific and organization-wide data quality – including how it impacts data migration, cleansing and relevance
  • Discuss some best practices around project-specific data quality and migration activities

You can watch a recording of this presentation through AICPA’s web site.

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) is “the global voice of the accounting and finance profession, founded by the American Institute of CPAs and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.”