The Customer-Obsessed Finance Leader In The Age Of Data

Although we’re already deeply embedded in the age of the customer, the pace of technologic advancement and customer empowerment continues to disrupt today’s business models. Throughout it all, there has been one constant: The key to competitive survival is data and insights-driven customer obsession. As the strategic steward of business outcomes, the CFO has a considerable stake in his or her organization’s customer obsession efforts. Given the strong link between customer strategy and business results, it’s critical for CFOs to take an active role in leading their organizations from customer focused to customer obsessed.

In February 2017, Dun & Bradstreet commissioned Forrester Consulting to evaluate how enterprises are leveraging data and analytics to drive decisions and strategy in pursuit of customer obsession and the role the CFO plays in achieving that goal. Forrester conducted an online survey of 250 finance executives at organizations with $150 million or more in revenue to explore this topic. The study revealed distinct data strategy differences between the firms that merely have good customer experience intentions and those that translate customer strategies into favorable business results.