Big data + big analytics = big opportunity: big data is dominating the strategy discussion for many financial executives. As these market dynamics continue to evolve, expectations will continue to shift about what should be disclosed, when and to whom.

• Author: Johnson, Jeanne E.
• Position: Strategy

For organizations and their finance functions today, data represents the ultimate challenge and the ultimate opportunity. On the one hand, the ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively can lead to better business decisions and lasting competitive advantage. So powerful is data that participants in the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, declared it a new class of economic asset, like currency or gold.

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On the other hand, it is difficult to actually find the value in data when it is coming from everywhere, well beyond what has been managed historically within a company's walls.

Staying on top of all company information generated from transaction systems is challenging enough. But it is compounded by the need to access and analyze insights generated from disparate reporting systems, dashboards and complex decision models.

Throw in new sources and volumes of data generated by third parties, mobile devices, emails, tweets, blogs, sensors and more, and the complexity of getting value from data is augmented even further.

The emerging data-driven economy has two primary characteristics: the abundance and complexity of data and the speed of change, and thus decision-making. Recognizing that data is increasingly driving competitive insights, operational scale and compliance complexities, organizations are embracing wholesale change in how information is accessed, interpreted, reported and applied.

The conventions for measuring, managing and monitoring a business will be stressed to new extremes as speed, the need for new perspectives and machine learning continue to influence the marketplace.

As these market dynamics continue to evolve, expectations will continue to shift about what should be disclosed, when and to whom. Consider the behavioral changes already taking place in large companies, where social media pressure has forced some to reverse positions that made perfect sense in the boardroom, but were anathema in the marketplace.

In this context, consider the value of being able to better predict the combined tax, regulatory and business impacts of a planned global expansion or an accounting change that affects selected products or divisions.

Consider, too, the risk management opportunities that would be possible with better transparency into a supplier's upstream and downstream financial and operational health.

Success in the data-driven economy will require as much acumen in harnessing what wasn't known or anticipated, as was rewarded historically for those able to optimize what was known and could be acted on to deliver on market expectations.

This is the start of a journey, and there is time to prepare and respond. The key is to take the first step and plan for change. KPMG research indicates that even leading organizations face significant internal obstacles that are inhibiting their ability to realize increased...