Topics of interest
Controlling vs. Data Science
An IT consultant with whom I worked intensively in the pharmaceutical industry (and with whom I have since become friends) has repeatedly expressed displeasure that controllers are often reluctant to deal with software in a systematic way. In a conversation in 2020, he sighed: "Everyone is talking about data science. Actually, all controllers should be Data Scientists." I think he is right. New generations of software systems have usually led to standard functions being simplified. In return, however, additional functions and increased complexity usually added neutralise the gains in productivity. I think that controlling teams should look at the area of data science see what they can use for their own development.
If you would like to exchange ideas on this topic, I would be happy to hear from you.
Excel and Python
As a controller and intensive user of Microsoft ™ Excel, I am familiar with pivot tables and macros. However, I have always found macros to be very unstable and VBA programming to be ineffective (at least for non-programmers).
Over the last few years, I have been exploring Python and its use in conjunction with Microsoft ™ Excel and feel that this combination has great potential in a finance and controlling environment.
Power BI
Microsoft™ has established itself as one of the major industry standards; especially in the financial sector, people are usually intensive users of products from Seattle. It should not be forgotten that not only the standard software products are constantly being developed further, but that there are also new developments in connection with integration and data structure. One interesting product in this context is PowerBI.
Other topics such as Power Platform and Power Apps will also play a greater role in the future.
This topic can facilitate the work of finance departments and improve the interaction between finance and IT. In my opinion, this is an area with great potential.
If this is of interest to you, please feel free to contact me.