29 CHAPTER 4 OPERATIONAL BEST PRACTICES High-performing finance teams use analytics to empower the entire organization with data-driven insights All finance teams have the common responsibilities of accounting, reporting, budgeting, and so forth. However, high-performing B2B SaaS finance teams go beyond these traditional roles to take advantage of the vast amounts of data available to them. SaaS companies, with recurring revenues and software-driven products, have unique insights on how their company is evolving, how their product is used, and how efficient their organization is. For this reason, many successful B2B SaaS finance teams employ people dedicated to the analysis and utilization of this data. These roles may be part of the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) function, but they can also be separate and focused solely on data analysis. The people in these roles take data from across the organization and derive insights to benefit the entire organization. For example: ▪ They may use data from the sales team to compare unit economics and retention patterns across different characteristics (verticals, regions, sizes, etc.) to identify the best segments and define the ideal customer profile for the sales team to target. ▪ They may use data from the marketing team to determine which channels yield the best leads and customers, and optimize marketing spend thereafter. ▪ They may use data from the product team to figure out which usage characteristics lead to the best retention, and direct the product and customer success teams to focus on these usage patterns. By leveraging data and analytics, high-performing B2B SaaS organizations are able to optimize and improve their operations. This is why these organizations are structured to take full advantage of their data. FOR THE MODERN-DAY CFO, DATA IS THE NAME OF THE GAME - ANALYSING CROSS COMPANY INPUTS TO OBTAIN DATA-DRIVEN OUTPUTS Other departments Product Sales Finance Marketing Data Analytics Other departments