Olivia and Ryan reveal how leading finance teams close the gap between strategy and execution. Real client stories, staggering industry stats, and key enablers highlight how finance can drive outcomes, accelerate decisions, and embed agility across the enterprise.
Chapter 1
Olivia
Hello again, and welcome to FP&A Done Right. Iâm Olivia, and as always, Iâm delighted to be joined by Ryan. Today weâre getting into something that honestly makes or breaks a finance transformationâexecution. Not dashboards, not PowerPoints, but actually turning plans into reality.
Ryan
Absolutely, Olivia! And you know, letâs just put it out there: even with stellar strategy, most organizations stumble right at the finish lineâexecution. I think it was Workday that reported, what, 63% of CEOs think execution is just... too darn slow?
Olivia
Thatâs right. And even more concerning, fewer than 1 in 5 executives feel genuinely ready to pivot when something unexpected happens. Thatâs an abysmally low number given how fast things are shifting these daysâyou blink and the marketâs changed.
Ryan
Yeah, and honestly, Iâve been in those boardrooms where everyoneâs nodding along with a well-crafted deck, but the moment someone says, âokay, how are we making this happen,â the room kind of freezes. And, Iâll admit, early in my finance career, I was one of the folks thinking, âIâll just stay over here in the spreadsheets.â
Olivia
But that whole mindset is changingâand has to. Weâre seeing finance teams step out of that âscorekeeperâ mentality. Instead of just reporting whatâs happened, theyâre expected to be right there at the table driving outcomes. Curiously, this evolutionâfrom reporting towards active participation in businessâmeans we now have a seat at the table when decisions are made, not just when theyâre summarized.
Ryan
Exactly. And itâs not just a cultural preference, itâs becoming a business necessity. When I led a digital transformation for a Fortune 500, our old process was just cranking out reportsâby the time leadership had them, things already changed. But moving to real-time reporting, we actually gave folks the ability to act while the information was still fresh. It was like shifting from huddling over a playbook after the game, to calling audibles mid-drive. Thatâs where the agility kicks in.
Olivia
Itâs a big shift, right? Execution has become the real metric for whether all our transformation projectsâdigital or otherwiseâare actually paying off. And the numbers tell us we have a long way to go, but also, that the future role of finance is so much more dynamic than it was even five years ago.
Chapter 2
Ryan
Letâs get into what this looks like on the ground. Because, you know, stories stick better than spreadsheets sometimes. One of my favorites is the Texans Credit Union storyâthey used to do all their budgeting and scenario planning inâyou guessed itâspreadsheets. When someone in senior management asked, âwhat happens if interest rates move by half a percent,â it was a trip back to the desk and... Iâll get back to you next week.
Olivia
The pain of âIâll get back to you.â Been there, too many times. That changed entirely for a credit union with Workday Adaptive Planning. Suddenly, their CFO could literally click a few buttons in a meeting, run the scenario live, and everyone gets an answer in real-time. And the trickle-down of that? Faster decisions, branch-level visibility, and fewer silos.
Ryan
Spot on. That move gave them a single source of truth across all branchesânow itâs just, âhereâs the answer, right now,â and theyâre spending more time on strategic discussions, less time wrangling messy files. But itâs not just credit unionsâremember that biotech company? They used to battle Excel errors and recalcitrant formulas just trying to reconcile payroll data across countries. Now, theyâve automated all that and, more importantly, freed up time to actually analyze the data instead of just compiling it.
Olivia
Right, the bio tech said their finance work was âlike night and dayâ after implementationâless manual work, more time for value-added analysis. And itâs not only because of the tech, itâs about how easy it became to spot cash flow issues or opportunities, and respond in real time. Letâs also talk about a business in home constructionâthey moved away from consolidating spreadsheets for dozens of projects, which used to eat up, what, 10-15 hours just to get the latest numbers?
Ryan
Yeah, and now they do the same work in about four hours, with integrated reports spanning not just finance, but project and loan management. Itâs like having instant visibility at the project level, which is essential with building timelines and fluctuating costs. They even tied in cash flow modeling with project milestones and bank loan drawsâso leaders arenât just staring at a static plan, they can see risk coming before it bites.
Chapter 3
Olivia
Letâs dig into HOW these companies, and others, make that leap from insight to action. Continuous planning comes up everywhere nowâversus those traditional, static, annual plans. According to BARC and Workday, 80% of organizations see more value in dynamic forecasts than sticking to those old annual budgets, which are usually obsolete before the inkâs even dry.
Ryan
I mean, traditional plans are like making a football playbook in the summer and then refusing to call any new plays, even when it snows in November. With rolling forecasts and continuous planning, youâre updating your approach as conditions changeâit makes scenario planning a real living process, not some annual âset it and forget it.â
Olivia
Absolutely. The framework that keeps coming up is this Agility Loopâa recurring cycle of Plan, Execute, Measure, Adjust. The AFP actually recommends this as the backbone for navigating change. But itâs not just about speed; integrated technology ensures that planners and operators share a single, real-time view, breaking down those classic finance-versus-operations silos.
Ryan
Yeah, and letâs talk about upskilling. Because even the best planning system wonât help if the team isnât able to interpret data quickly or build bridges to other functions. 88% of Workday Adaptive Planning customers say finance is now seen as more strategic, which means teams need more data literacy, business partnering chops, and frankly, comfort with ambiguity.
Olivia
Itâs so true. The cultural shift is almost as big as the technology upgrade. Finance teams have to move beyond scorekeeping and become strategic partnersâgetting cozy with digital tools, collaborating up and down the org, and being ready to adjust as fresh data comes in. And sometimes, that means developing new habits and learning to challenge the old status quo. I still triple-check my formulas, just in caseâbut now Iâm looking at how to immediately act on the outputs, not just confirm the math.
About the podcast
This podcast series explores real-world strategies, tools, and success stories to help finance professionals master modern FP&A and enterprise performance management. From implementation best practices to scenario planning, headcount strategy, and cash flow managementâeach episode offers practical insights you can use right away. Disclaimer: This podcast was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and may include AI-generated elements.
Olivia
This all reminds me of one of my more competitive board game nightsâbear with me, Ryanâwhere the team who won wasnât the one with the strongest start but the one who could adjust their plans as things evolved across multiple layers. In finance, itâs layered planning and real-time feedback thatâs mirroring those victories. Technology is just the enablerâthe mindset and process make the difference.
Ryan
So the common themeâwhether itâs a credit union, biotech, or homebuilderâis that execution demands both real-time visibility and business agility. If youâre still wrestling with static reports and reactive models, youâre at a significant disadvantage.
Olivia
Completely agree. And whatâs striking is how these organizations shifted finance from being a cost center buried in admin work to a driver of tangible business outcomes. Thatâs what transformation looks like in practice, not in slide decks.
Ryan
Love it. Itâs about embedding yourself in the action, being proactive, and not just waiting for someone to ask you for a breakdown. Quick scenario modeling, dynamic forecasting⊠Thatâs what closes the gap between strategy and real-world outcomes. So, if youâre listening to this thinking, âwhere do I even start?ââstart by leaning into continuous planning, prioritizing scenario analysis, and, maybe most importantly, building real cross-functional partnerships.
Olivia
Thatâs the cruxânone of this is hypothetical. Weâre seeing the payoff in faster, more confident decisions, better forecasting, and tangible business agility all around. Finance is driving the bus now, not just announcing the stops after the fact.
Ryan
Alright, thatâs a wrap for this episode. If you want to go deeper, check out Revelwoodâs client stories or the latest Workday Adaptive Planning resourcesâweâll link them in the show notes. And donât miss our next episode, where weâll explore storytelling as a superpower in finance. Olivia, always a pleasure riffing with you.
Olivia
Thanks, Ryanâloved every minute. To everyone listening, keep driving execution, not just analysis. See you next time!
Ryan
Take care everyone, and goodbye till the next one.