Companies used to rely on tangible, physical assets like factories, estates, and equipment to create value. In today’s globalised business, intangible assets such as brand values, intellectual properties, data, human capital, and customer capital have become the key value drivers for businesses. Finance professionals, however, still find it difficult to manage such assets.

The real estate industry, for the most part, has not been well known for being technology intensive. This nature may soon disappear, however. Data analytics is transforming how real estate companies, customers, and financial institutions do business in this industry.

Employees come and go; it is a stark reality of the corporate world. Unfortunately, half of employees who leave their jobs also take confidential corporate data with them according to research conducted by Symantec in 2013. And 40% of them intend to use such data in their new jobs. You need to take proactive measures to protect your data when your employees move on, because the consequences could be severe for your business if you don’t.

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia, Agoda or Booking.com have become a crucial source of hotel revenue. Independent hotels are particularly dependent on OTAs for their revenue. While this is not necessarily a negative trend, hoteliers should avoid relying too much on this channel for it may hurt the hotels’ profitability. OTAs usually demand around 10-20% in direct commissions. Additionally, the rate parity agreement with OTAs limits the hotels’ pricing options.

Much is written about the significance of metrics on tracking the execution of strategy and operational effectiveness. However, many executives find the plethora of metrics to be overwhelming and costly to track. “What key metrics should I track and why?” is one of the commonly asked questions. Although there is no such easy answer to this issue, the principle of “less is more” usually holds true.

Scheduling has long been a daunting task of retail management. Optimising the scheduling process could help increase margins considering that labour is among retailers’ largest operating costs. Additionally, improved scheduling greatly contributes to better relationship between employers and employees. Morale and productivity will be higher, and customer satisfaction will be too. If you are a manager or business owner in the retail industry, you may want to consider the following best practices for retail scheduling.

The Hospitality industry increasingly appreciates the significance of personalisation in improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. As guests today are getting bombarded with information and offers from both hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs), personalised services could well be the ultimate goal that every Hotel aims to achieve.

This is a long and challenging journey; but hoteliers can start by understanding the fundamental principles and practices, as well as associated legal and ethical implications of hospitality personalisation.

To cloud, or not to cloud, that is the question. For enterprise applications, “cloud” is no longer a buzzword but increasingly becoming a prominent trend. Businesses can achieve significant advantages over other legacy on-premise solutions, which are locally installed on companies’ servers and computers, with ERP software in the cloud.

The role of modern CFOs in today’s business is much broader than it used to be. They are expected to use technology and their “number-crunching” capability to give other functions as well as the whole business better information to make decisions and move ahead. One key area in particular where CFOs should get involved more is sales forecasting.

Companies are adopting innovative enterprise solutions to help them stay ahead of their competitors. Nevertheless, many still rely on spreadsheets to perform vital financial functions. It is not a promising way for companies to remain relevant in this new digital economy. An EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) application could be the ultimate alternative to using spreadsheets.