December 11, 2025 • 16 mins
Looking to boost your organization’s profitability with smarter cost analysis? In this engaging episode of Count Me In, host Adam Larson sits down with Colleen Whitmore, Partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP and co-author of the Deloitte and IMA article "Unlocking Profitability Insights." Colleen breaks down the ins and outs of cost to serve analysis, sharing why it's a game changer for companies seeking hidden profit opportunities and better decision-making.
Hear Colleen’s take on why most organizations still aren’t using these powerful tools, what holds them back, and how advances in technology are making detailed cost analysis more accessible than ever. She shares practical advice on preparing your finance teams for innovation, overcoming common data challenges, and the first steps leaders should take to get started.
Whether you’re a finance professional, business leader, or just curious about the latest trends in cost management, this episode will deliver real-world insights and actionable tips straight from an industry thought leader. Don’t miss Colleen’s fresh perspective on how to transform your organization’s approach to profitability!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adam Larson (00:05):
Welcome to Count Me In. I'm Adam Larson, and today
I'm joined by Colleen Whitmore,partner at
Deloitte & Touche LLP andcoauthor of the Deloitte and IMA
article Unlocking ProfitabilityInsights. Colleen is here to
break down the concept of costto serve analysis, a method that
digs deep into the actual costsof delivering products and
services to customers. We'lltalk about why so many
(00:26):
organizations haven't embracedcost to serve, what's holding
them back, and how newtechnologies are making it
easier for businesses of allsizes to gain valuable cost
insights. Colleen shares advicefor finance leaders who want to
get started and her take on theevolving skills needed in
today's teams.
If you're looking for actionablestrategies to uncover hidden
profitability and drive smarterbusinesses, this episode's for
(00:48):
you.
Well, Colleen, I'm very excitedto have you on the podcast
(01:09):
today, and we're gonna betalking about some topics in a
recent article by Deloitte andIMA, Unlocking Profitability
Insights, which you were one ofthe authors for.
And I figured a nice place tostart would be what is cost to
serve analysis, and how can ithelp organizations uncover
hidden profitabilityopportunities?
Colleen Whitmore (01:27):
Sure. So, cost to serve is really an analytical
reporting approach, and itreally is bringing together
operational and financial datato quantify the costs incurred
by an organization across thevalue chain to deliver products
or services to customers. Andreally what differentiates this
modeling approach is that thedata is analyzed at the product
(01:47):
or SKU or service level, soincredible detail. And it
includes not only the costs ofproducts or services, but also
costs associated with sellingthe products or services,
freight and delivery, and costsassociated with any sort of
after service expenditures. So,it's bringing that full picture
of costs to serve a customer.
(02:08):
The cost analysis then can beorganized by product or service,
by customer, by region, bydelivery channel. So you're able
to then do some compare andcontrast across a portfolio. And
really, one of the benefits hereis looking at data across the
value chain at that specificlevel of a product or service
gives you that additionaltransparency into what are the
(02:30):
activities and the correspondingcosts to serve customers. And
then when you pair that with anysort of sales data you have,
then you're really able to seethe profitability at a very
granular level to think aboutyour strategies and what your
performance is across differentreporting dimensions.
Adam Larson (02:46):
I mean, that that sounds like something that we
all should be using within ourorganizations. Is there a reason
why there's not a lot oforganizations currently using
that kind of analysis? And arethere certain barriers to
adoption that's stopping themfrom going that direction?
Colleen Whitmore (02:59):
Yeah, it's interesting. So the joint survey
we did with the IMA only foundthat 38% of respondents were
actually using cost to serveanalysis. Very low. And what we
found, the key challenge is justaround the data. You know, these
days everybody's got lots ofdata, but where the challenge is
is really accessing itconsistently and the level of
detail globally across anorganization to do analysis.
(03:23):
You've got to have people thatare gonna be able to have the
background working with theselarge data sets. Are they gonna
be able to build the models inorder to use it? And then one of
the things that is really achallenge when you think about
cost to serve is the fact thatas you go further down the value
chain, you get to a specificcost for a product or service,
there's gonna be the allocationof shared costs and, you know,
(03:45):
this may require the developmentof additional cost allocation
strategies that a companycurrently isn't using. And
really to be beneficial, thoseallocation methodologies should
really be based for substantivecosts on consumption-based
drivers, not your regularpercent of revenues or percent
(04:05):
of production in order for it tobe meaningful. And so, companies
may not have the time todevelop, to implement, and to
maintain those detailedallocation methodologies.
And so that really can be abandwidth issue in terms of
being able to properly implementa cost to serve analysis. Mhmm.
And then also, we're on acrusade to educate people on the
(04:27):
value of these types ofanalytics and reporting. So
hopefully, you know, we'llincrease adoption, that way too.
Adam Larson (04:32):
Yeah. It sounds like it's gonna take some time
to get adopting because yougotta get your teams ready and
teams are already feeling likethey're overworked and like,
wait, you're probably putanother thing on me, but it
sounds like it in the long run,it'll be worth it for the
organization.
Colleen Whitmore (04:47):
Yeah. And just having that improved
transparency and timely data andhaving those allocation
strategies in place and makingsure they're consumption-based
as opposed to static measures isreally going to be important in
terms of being able tounderstand the the actual use of
costs. And so that can be achallenge for organizations. And
(05:08):
then frankly, in terms oftimeless reporting these days, I
mean, it's based on technologysolutions. Our joint survey with
the IMA, showed that 60% ofrespondents are using
performance modeling tools whichis great, but the majority
identified spreadsheets as theirprimary tool and this was
followed by ERP software.
But when you think aboutspreadsheets, there's typically
(05:29):
a significant amount of manualdata manipulation where you run
the risk of errors in terms ofyour calculations, and again, I
mean they're pretty timeconsuming to use. So, more and
more we're seeing that companiesreally need to use data
aggregation and calculationengines to support cost modeling
and and some of this analyticalreporting in order to get those
(05:51):
benefits of timeliness and takesome of the manual burden off
their finance organizations.
Adam Larson (05:56):
So what are some of the biggest challenges that
organizations are facing, youknow, in obtaining that
meaningful cost data that you'vebeen talking about?
Colleen Whitmore (06:03):
In looking at the survey, having complex or
disparate systems really can bea challenge. And I've certainly
noticed that obtainingconsistent information across
multiple ERPs is really achallenge. Also, the ERPs may
not be to provide data in thelevel of detail that's needed
for analysis. There can bechallenges particularly when we
(06:25):
talk about cost- to- servemodels, getting information from
operations supply chain, theymay not capture the data in the
level of detail or in the formatthat's needed for analysis.
Systems and processes may bemanually intensive such that by
the time data is extracted andorganized, the train might have
left the station just in termsof being able to leverage that
for meaningful analytics.
(06:47):
If you don't have something thatis meaningful in terms of
allocating the cost to theactivities, based on drivers
that are reflective of use, it'sit's going to be tough to to
really get that that meaningfulunderstanding of your full cost
to serve.
Adam Larson (07:02):
So you've been talking about these models, and
we can't talk about having thesemodels and analyzing all this
without talking about technologybecause technology has to be a
main part of doing some of thatinitial analysis because these
are such huge datasets. We needthat technology. Do you think
that the different, modelingtools are evolving? Like, are
(07:22):
how are they evolving, and whatimpact will that have on cost
and profitability analysis?
Colleen Whitmore (07:27):
That's exactly right. Companies are looking for
more and more granular cost datausing larger and larger
datasets. Again, cost to serveis a prime example of that. It
can't be managed usingspreadsheets. So, data
aggregation calculation toolsare needed.
And certainly, there are moreand more of these technologies
available in the marketplace andone of the reasons that they're
(07:48):
becoming more popular andgetting traction is because
they're becoming more and morebusiness user- friendly. Instead
of having to use computer codeof prior decades, these tools
now come pre- configured withfunctions. They can join data
sets that are ERP, non- ERP tocreate analysis. They come with
different preset types ofcalculations or data sorts. So
(08:11):
the computer coding skills arenot required.
And the other benefit of thesetools and really what we're
seeing more and more of, is thatthey can be integrated into a
company's systems and theresults can then be uploaded for
reporting. So you're enabled toget sort of that end- to- end
value of taking the data fromyour systems, having those
calculations performed, thenputting it into your reporting
(08:33):
tools. So there's efficiency,there's reduced risk in terms of
a more controlled environmentfor accuracy, and being able to
use different sorts of data,you're able to get that cross-
functional view of youranalytics. So certainly
technology is a big player asthese data sets are getting
larger and people are interestedin faster results.
Adam Larson (08:54):
Yeah. And so as the technology moves faster and as
the technology grows, I'm surethat the cost to entry into
those technologies is gonna godown to make it more applicable
to more and more organizationsbecause the small mom and pop
shops will still need to havethat cost to serve analysis just
like the big organizations.
Colleen Whitmore (09:11):
That's exactly right. As we think about the
value of these technologies andwhat it's doing for companies.
It's being able to move theneedle in terms of having a more
robust strategy. Having thatinformation faster and more
proactive to be able to bestrategic is definitely one of
the values that we see here.
Adam Larson (09:32):
So, how do you measure success? Like, let's say
you've implemented these intoyour organization. What is that
measure of success? I know everycompany is different, but
there's gotta be some set levelsets.
Colleen Whitmore (09:43):
Yeah. And like with any technology
implementation, you
start with comparing thebusiness value case with what
you've got and thinking abouthow your requirements aligned
with end results. The thingabout finance implementations is
that often the results can bemore qualitative than
quantitative. And so, it'sreally thinking about whether
(10:04):
the implementation resulted inmore timely generation of
reporting and analytics. Andoften this is from automation or
reduced manual effort, increasedagility to adapt to market
changes within scenario modelingor forecasting, more improved
data quality, more detail had toprovide insights for supporting
decision making, and franklyincrease bandwidth to be, more
(10:27):
strategic in terms of theanalytics you're doing.
And often we see companies goingfrom spending all their time
preparing the analytics toactually being able to look at
them and be able to be strategicin terms of making decisions. So
really at the end of the day, Ithink a key measure of success
is simply being able to enablebetter decision making.
Adam Larson (10:47):
Yeah, It definitely can. So are there challenges
that people should be aware ofwhen they're trying to adopt
these new technologies,especially in the cost
management space? And do youhave recommendations how they
can overcome, maybe someexamples of people who have kind
of gone through it and how theyovercame it?
Colleen Whitmore (11:03):
One of the biggest barriers to entry like
we talked about is the cost, butcertainly we are seeing the cost
of these tools coming down. Butanother challenge, we talked
about bandwidth and certainlyhaving the time to upscale your
your workforce to be able toeffectively use technologies. As
companies and folks are seeingthe benefits of efficiencies and
the insights that they get fromthe from the news tools, there's
(11:25):
momentum to adopt thetechnologies to generate
additional benefits, and itbuilds enthusiasm to learn and
try new capabilities. And theother thing to bear in mind also
in implementing these tools,there does need to be a strategy
around the integration. Andcertainly, these tools do have a
lot of capabilities to integrateboth the data and the reporting,
(11:47):
But sometimes, depending on theage of systems, this does need
to be considered.
But certainly we haven't seen alot of roadblocks.
Adam Larson (11:54):
So what about teams? We've to prepare our
teams to upscale them, toprepare them for this new
innovation and cost analysis.What are some steps that finance
leaders can kind of take to gettheir teams ready for this?
Colleen Whitmore (12:04):
Here we find that companies that have
fostered an environment ofcontinuous improvement are
usually more successfulimplementing new technologies.
Their teams just have more of anopen mind to improvement from
change. Another opportunity oroption I've seen is piloting a
new technology using astraightforward use case, a
small team, and buildingexcitement through the results
(12:27):
of that and sharing thosebenefits can really be helpful.
And lastly, sponsoringparticipation in relevant
technology trainings andsupporting their application
within the finance organizationwill help adoption and again
gather momentum for newapplications of a technology.
Overall, like I mentioned, a lotof these tools are very user-
(12:48):
friendly, they're intuitive,it's not about coding, for
example.
And so it really comes down tothinking about the quality of
your data and how you want touse it. But usually, the barrier
isn't so much the technology,but having the time and the
acumen of your folks to trysomething new.
Adam Larson (13:09):
Do you think that colleges should be teaching this
to their students for the nextgeneration so that way when they
get to the organizations, theycan jump in and start doing it
or they can say, "Hey, whyaren't we doing this?"
Colleen Whitmore (13:21):
So, I think what's going to happen is a lot
of these tools are so user-friendly. I think colleges
should really focus on the datarequirements. What are the
strategies? What are thequestions that companies are
trying to adopt with thetechnology? And I don't think
it's necessarily spending timeat the college level learning
(13:43):
how to program these toolsbecause they're going to be so
intuitive and user- friendly,but thinking more broadly about
what are the types of strategicdecisions that are going to
advance a company in terms ofprofitability, in terms of
success in the environment inwhich they're working to reach
their strategic goals.
So, I think it's thinking aboutthe use cases and the strategy
(14:06):
more so than configuring tools,if you will.
Adam Larson (14:10):
Instead of putting the tool in front of us, teach
the concept to get this strategyright so that we're raising up
the next leader so that they canbegin to sit at the table and
say, "Hey, let's have a bettercost analysis in our
organization as opposed to howwe've always done it before."
Colleen Whitmore (14:24):
Yeah, and that's really what we're seeing
a lot of companies realize isthey need to be retooling their
workforce to focus on how canthey further performing
analytics. It's not so muchexecuting transactions within a
finance organization. More andmore the technologies, they're
able to do that. Know, it can bedone with a click of a button
(14:45):
with scanning and so forth andautomation.
But applying the informationfrom a strategy perspective and
an analytical perspective isreally where we're seeing
companies focus in terms ofupskilling their workforce.
Adam Larson (14:59):
So, let's say somebody's listening to this
podcast and they're like, "Wow,is my organization doing cost to
serve analysis? I wanna improvethis reporting. I'm a leader,
and I'm like, I don't thinkwe're doing this properly."
Where should they begin? What'sthat first step as they're
trying to get started on thisjourney to have better cost and
profitability analysis in theirorganization?
Colleen Whitmore (15:17):
I would suggest that organizations
should start, like we've beentalking about, identify what are
the key questions they need toanswer in order to move their
strategy forward. Next, considerwhat are the current challenges
to get those answers. Is it databased? Is it technology based?
Or they require a differentstrategy for collaboration
across the organization.
And lastly, really evaluate thepotential value to be gained by
(15:40):
those insights. And certainly,in working with clients, insight
full reporting can be acompetitive differentiator.
They're able to be more agile,more proactive in their
marketplace, which hastranslated into meeting those
strategic goals. And certainly,we have found the cost- to-
serve analytics is an effectivestarting point for that
reporting transformation.
Adam Larson (15:59):
Well, Colleen, thank you so much for coming on
the podcast. It's been great,kind of unlocking some of the
intricacies of the article andkind of hearing your, take on it
and, shedding some new light onsome of those things. I
encourage all of our listenersto download the report, to check
the link in the show notesdetails if you wanna read the
full thing and, kind of engagein the conversation and get more
into it. So, Colleen, thank youso much for, coming on.
Colleen Whitmore (16:21):
Thank you. I appreciate the time.
Announce (16:24):
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast providing you
with the latest perspectives ofthought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
Welcome to Count Me In. I'm Adam Larson, and today
I'm joined by Colleen Whitmore,partner at
Deloitte & Touche LLP andcoauthor of the Deloitte and IMA
article Unlocking ProfitabilityInsights. Colleen is here to
break down the concept of costto serve analysis, a method that
digs deep into the actual costsof delivering products and
services to customers. We'lltalk about why so many
(00:26):
organizations haven't embracedcost to serve, what's holding
them back, and how newtechnologies are making it
easier for businesses of allsizes to gain valuable cost
insights. Colleen shares advicefor finance leaders who want to
get started and her take on theevolving skills needed in
today's teams.
If you're looking for actionablestrategies to uncover hidden
profitability and drive smarterbusinesses, this episode's for
(00:48):
you.
Well, Colleen, I'm very excitedto have you on the podcast
(01:09):
today, and we're gonna betalking about some topics in a
recent article by Deloitte andIMA, Unlocking Profitability
Insights, which you were one ofthe authors for.
And I figured a nice place tostart would be what is cost to
serve analysis, and how can ithelp organizations uncover
hidden profitabilityopportunities?
Colleen Whitmore (01:27):
Sure. So, cost to serve is really an analytical
reporting approach, and itreally is bringing together
operational and financial datato quantify the costs incurred
by an organization across thevalue chain to deliver products
or services to customers. Andreally what differentiates this
modeling approach is that thedata is analyzed at the product
(01:47):
or SKU or service level, soincredible detail. And it
includes not only the costs ofproducts or services, but also
costs associated with sellingthe products or services,
freight and delivery, and costsassociated with any sort of
after service expenditures. So,it's bringing that full picture
of costs to serve a customer.
(02:08):
The cost analysis then can beorganized by product or service,
by customer, by region, bydelivery channel. So you're able
to then do some compare andcontrast across a portfolio. And
really, one of the benefits hereis looking at data across the
value chain at that specificlevel of a product or service
gives you that additionaltransparency into what are the
(02:30):
activities and the correspondingcosts to serve customers. And
then when you pair that with anysort of sales data you have,
then you're really able to seethe profitability at a very
granular level to think aboutyour strategies and what your
performance is across differentreporting dimensions.
Adam Larson (02:46):
I mean, that that sounds like something that we
all should be using within ourorganizations. Is there a reason
why there's not a lot oforganizations currently using
that kind of analysis? And arethere certain barriers to
adoption that's stopping themfrom going that direction?
Colleen Whitmore (02:59):
Yeah, it's interesting. So the joint survey
we did with the IMA only foundthat 38% of respondents were
actually using cost to serveanalysis. Very low. And what we
found, the key challenge is justaround the data. You know, these
days everybody's got lots ofdata, but where the challenge is
is really accessing itconsistently and the level of
detail globally across anorganization to do analysis.
(03:23):
You've got to have people thatare gonna be able to have the
background working with theselarge data sets. Are they gonna
be able to build the models inorder to use it? And then one of
the things that is really achallenge when you think about
cost to serve is the fact thatas you go further down the value
chain, you get to a specificcost for a product or service,
there's gonna be the allocationof shared costs and, you know,
(03:45):
this may require the developmentof additional cost allocation
strategies that a companycurrently isn't using. And
really to be beneficial, thoseallocation methodologies should
really be based for substantivecosts on consumption-based
drivers, not your regularpercent of revenues or percent
(04:05):
of production in order for it tobe meaningful. And so, companies
may not have the time todevelop, to implement, and to
maintain those detailedallocation methodologies.
And so that really can be abandwidth issue in terms of
being able to properly implementa cost to serve analysis. Mhmm.
And then also, we're on acrusade to educate people on the
(04:27):
value of these types ofanalytics and reporting. So
hopefully, you know, we'llincrease adoption, that way too.
Adam Larson (04:32):
Yeah. It sounds like it's gonna take some time
to get adopting because yougotta get your teams ready and
teams are already feeling likethey're overworked and like,
wait, you're probably putanother thing on me, but it
sounds like it in the long run,it'll be worth it for the
organization.
Colleen Whitmore (04:47):
Yeah. And just having that improved
transparency and timely data andhaving those allocation
strategies in place and makingsure they're consumption-based
as opposed to static measures isreally going to be important in
terms of being able tounderstand the the actual use of
costs. And so that can be achallenge for organizations. And
(05:08):
then frankly, in terms oftimeless reporting these days, I
mean, it's based on technologysolutions. Our joint survey with
the IMA, showed that 60% ofrespondents are using
performance modeling tools whichis great, but the majority
identified spreadsheets as theirprimary tool and this was
followed by ERP software.
But when you think aboutspreadsheets, there's typically
(05:29):
a significant amount of manualdata manipulation where you run
the risk of errors in terms ofyour calculations, and again, I
mean they're pretty timeconsuming to use. So, more and
more we're seeing that companiesreally need to use data
aggregation and calculationengines to support cost modeling
and and some of this analyticalreporting in order to get those
(05:51):
benefits of timeliness and takesome of the manual burden off
their finance organizations.
Adam Larson (05:56):
So what are some of the biggest challenges that
organizations are facing, youknow, in obtaining that
meaningful cost data that you'vebeen talking about?
Colleen Whitmore (06:03):
In looking at the survey, having complex or
disparate systems really can bea challenge. And I've certainly
noticed that obtainingconsistent information across
multiple ERPs is really achallenge. Also, the ERPs may
not be to provide data in thelevel of detail that's needed
for analysis. There can bechallenges particularly when we
(06:25):
talk about cost- to- servemodels, getting information from
operations supply chain, theymay not capture the data in the
level of detail or in the formatthat's needed for analysis.
Systems and processes may bemanually intensive such that by
the time data is extracted andorganized, the train might have
left the station just in termsof being able to leverage that
for meaningful analytics.
(06:47):
If you don't have something thatis meaningful in terms of
allocating the cost to theactivities, based on drivers
that are reflective of use, it'sit's going to be tough to to
really get that that meaningfulunderstanding of your full cost
to serve.
Adam Larson (07:02):
So you've been talking about these models, and
we can't talk about having thesemodels and analyzing all this
without talking about technologybecause technology has to be a
main part of doing some of thatinitial analysis because these
are such huge datasets. We needthat technology. Do you think
that the different, modelingtools are evolving? Like, are
(07:22):
how are they evolving, and whatimpact will that have on cost
and profitability analysis?
Colleen Whitmore (07:27):
That's exactly right. Companies are looking for
more and more granular cost datausing larger and larger
datasets. Again, cost to serveis a prime example of that. It
can't be managed usingspreadsheets. So, data
aggregation calculation toolsare needed.
And certainly, there are moreand more of these technologies
available in the marketplace andone of the reasons that they're
(07:48):
becoming more popular andgetting traction is because
they're becoming more and morebusiness user- friendly. Instead
of having to use computer codeof prior decades, these tools
now come pre- configured withfunctions. They can join data
sets that are ERP, non- ERP tocreate analysis. They come with
different preset types ofcalculations or data sorts. So
(08:11):
the computer coding skills arenot required.
And the other benefit of thesetools and really what we're
seeing more and more of, is thatthey can be integrated into a
company's systems and theresults can then be uploaded for
reporting. So you're enabled toget sort of that end- to- end
value of taking the data fromyour systems, having those
calculations performed, thenputting it into your reporting
(08:33):
tools. So there's efficiency,there's reduced risk in terms of
a more controlled environmentfor accuracy, and being able to
use different sorts of data,you're able to get that cross-
functional view of youranalytics. So certainly
technology is a big player asthese data sets are getting
larger and people are interestedin faster results.
Adam Larson (08:54):
Yeah. And so as the technology moves faster and as
the technology grows, I'm surethat the cost to entry into
those technologies is gonna godown to make it more applicable
to more and more organizationsbecause the small mom and pop
shops will still need to havethat cost to serve analysis just
like the big organizations.
Colleen Whitmore (09:11):
That's exactly right. As we think about the
value of these technologies andwhat it's doing for companies.
It's being able to move theneedle in terms of having a more
robust strategy. Having thatinformation faster and more
proactive to be able to bestrategic is definitely one of
the values that we see here.
Adam Larson (09:32):
So, how do you measure success? Like, let's say
you've implemented these intoyour organization. What is that
measure of success? I know everycompany is different, but
there's gotta be some set levelsets.
Colleen Whitmore (09:43):
Yeah. And like with any technology
implementation, you
start with comparing thebusiness value case with what
you've got and thinking abouthow your requirements aligned
with end results. The thingabout finance implementations is
that often the results can bemore qualitative than
quantitative. And so, it'sreally thinking about whether
(10:04):
the implementation resulted inmore timely generation of
reporting and analytics. Andoften this is from automation or
reduced manual effort, increasedagility to adapt to market
changes within scenario modelingor forecasting, more improved
data quality, more detail had toprovide insights for supporting
decision making, and franklyincrease bandwidth to be, more
(10:27):
strategic in terms of theanalytics you're doing.
And often we see companies goingfrom spending all their time
preparing the analytics toactually being able to look at
them and be able to be strategicin terms of making decisions. So
really at the end of the day, Ithink a key measure of success
is simply being able to enablebetter decision making.
Adam Larson (10:47):
Yeah, It definitely can. So are there challenges
that people should be aware ofwhen they're trying to adopt
these new technologies,especially in the cost
management space? And do youhave recommendations how they
can overcome, maybe someexamples of people who have kind
of gone through it and how theyovercame it?
Colleen Whitmore (11:03):
One of the biggest barriers to entry like
we talked about is the cost, butcertainly we are seeing the cost
of these tools coming down. Butanother challenge, we talked
about bandwidth and certainlyhaving the time to upscale your
your workforce to be able toeffectively use technologies. As
companies and folks are seeingthe benefits of efficiencies and
the insights that they get fromthe from the news tools, there's
(11:25):
momentum to adopt thetechnologies to generate
additional benefits, and itbuilds enthusiasm to learn and
try new capabilities. And theother thing to bear in mind also
in implementing these tools,there does need to be a strategy
around the integration. Andcertainly, these tools do have a
lot of capabilities to integrateboth the data and the reporting,
(11:47):
But sometimes, depending on theage of systems, this does need
to be considered.
But certainly we haven't seen alot of roadblocks.
Adam Larson (11:54):
So what about teams? We've to prepare our
teams to upscale them, toprepare them for this new
innovation and cost analysis.What are some steps that finance
leaders can kind of take to gettheir teams ready for this?
Colleen Whitmore (12:04):
Here we find that companies that have
fostered an environment ofcontinuous improvement are
usually more successfulimplementing new technologies.
Their teams just have more of anopen mind to improvement from
change. Another opportunity oroption I've seen is piloting a
new technology using astraightforward use case, a
small team, and buildingexcitement through the results
(12:27):
of that and sharing thosebenefits can really be helpful.
And lastly, sponsoringparticipation in relevant
technology trainings andsupporting their application
within the finance organizationwill help adoption and again
gather momentum for newapplications of a technology.
Overall, like I mentioned, a lotof these tools are very user-
(12:48):
friendly, they're intuitive,it's not about coding, for
example.
And so it really comes down tothinking about the quality of
your data and how you want touse it. But usually, the barrier
isn't so much the technology,but having the time and the
acumen of your folks to trysomething new.
Adam Larson (13:09):
Do you think that colleges should be teaching this
to their students for the nextgeneration so that way when they
get to the organizations, theycan jump in and start doing it
or they can say, "Hey, whyaren't we doing this?"
Colleen Whitmore (13:21):
So, I think what's going to happen is a lot
of these tools are so user-friendly. I think colleges
should really focus on the datarequirements. What are the
strategies? What are thequestions that companies are
trying to adopt with thetechnology? And I don't think
it's necessarily spending timeat the college level learning
(13:43):
how to program these toolsbecause they're going to be so
intuitive and user- friendly,but thinking more broadly about
what are the types of strategicdecisions that are going to
advance a company in terms ofprofitability, in terms of
success in the environment inwhich they're working to reach
their strategic goals.
So, I think it's thinking aboutthe use cases and the strategy
(14:06):
more so than configuring tools,if you will.
Adam Larson (14:10):
Instead of putting the tool in front of us, teach
the concept to get this strategyright so that we're raising up
the next leader so that they canbegin to sit at the table and
say, "Hey, let's have a bettercost analysis in our
organization as opposed to howwe've always done it before."
Colleen Whitmore (14:24):
Yeah, and that's really what we're seeing
a lot of companies realize isthey need to be retooling their
workforce to focus on how canthey further performing
analytics. It's not so muchexecuting transactions within a
finance organization. More andmore the technologies, they're
able to do that. Know, it can bedone with a click of a button
(14:45):
with scanning and so forth andautomation.
But applying the informationfrom a strategy perspective and
an analytical perspective isreally where we're seeing
companies focus in terms ofupskilling their workforce.
Adam Larson (14:59):
So, let's say somebody's listening to this
podcast and they're like, "Wow,is my organization doing cost to
serve analysis? I wanna improvethis reporting. I'm a leader,
and I'm like, I don't thinkwe're doing this properly."
Where should they begin? What'sthat first step as they're
trying to get started on thisjourney to have better cost and
profitability analysis in theirorganization?
Colleen Whitmore (15:17):
I would suggest that organizations
should start, like we've beentalking about, identify what are
the key questions they need toanswer in order to move their
strategy forward. Next, considerwhat are the current challenges
to get those answers. Is it databased? Is it technology based?
Or they require a differentstrategy for collaboration
across the organization.
And lastly, really evaluate thepotential value to be gained by
(15:40):
those insights. And certainly,in working with clients, insight
full reporting can be acompetitive differentiator.
They're able to be more agile,more proactive in their
marketplace, which hastranslated into meeting those
strategic goals. And certainly,we have found the cost- to-
serve analytics is an effectivestarting point for that
reporting transformation.
Adam Larson (15:59):
Well, Colleen, thank you so much for coming on
the podcast. It's been great,kind of unlocking some of the
intricacies of the article andkind of hearing your, take on it
and, shedding some new light onsome of those things. I
encourage all of our listenersto download the report, to check
the link in the show notesdetails if you wanna read the
full thing and, kind of engagein the conversation and get more
into it. So, Colleen, thank youso much for, coming on.
Colleen Whitmore (16:21):
Thank you. I appreciate the time.
Announce (16:24):
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast providing you
with the latest perspectives ofthought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
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