As custodians of company data, finance leaders are fielding more questions from internal stakeholders than ever before. Those stakeholders — from the board down to operational line managers — want more metrics, more analytics, and deeper and more meaningful insights into financial and operational performance. It has only been recently that finance leaders have access to the technology to provide the answers in a timely and relevant fashion.

This article explores some of the advanced tools that finance leaders can use to balance increasing demands, recognizing that data analytics is rapidly evolving from an interesting gadget into an indispensable utility.