• By Company

 

Customers In The Spotlight

KeyCorp

"With BusinessObjects Planning, we sought to integrate and synchronize our data flows and processes in order to align planning not only across finance but across other functional disciplines throughout the enterprise as well—product management, sales management, and finance."

Elizabeth McCaffery,
director of management reporting and financial systems, KeyCorp

Challenge

One of the largest bank-based financial services companies in the United States, Cleveland-based KeyCorp provides investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services. For KeyCorp, success depends on a continued focus on both customer service and the ongoing transformation of the financial services industry. With $91 billion in assets, 20,000 employees, and an extensive network of ATMs, banking centers, and staff across the country, KeyCorp needed a streamlined planning and forecasting process to strengthen its business management and better navigate transition.

KeyCorp's planning system was limited in scope and expensive to manage. "There were significant functionality gaps, primarily on the balance sheet side, that caused us to highly customize our models," says Elizabeth McCaffery, director of management reporting and financial systems at KeyCorp. "That in turn created a heavy reliance on IT for any new models or processes, which generated an overall high cost of ownership for our planning and forecasting applications." Second, the higher levels of financial integration and efficiency required by KeyCorp for its planning processes just couldn’t be achieved within the existing framework.

KeyCorp sought a common platform and extended reach for more efficient planning. "We wanted to leverage a common platform—a single tool for not only planning and forecasting but also to extend that reach into our management and financial reporting," says McCaffery. "As such, that would leverage a single source not only for data but for hierarchies, business rules, and allocations."

Approach

KeyCorp turned to BusinessObjects™ Planning. The key aims of the upgrade were to tighten the relationship between strategy and operational plans, leverage efficiencies, and accelerate the planning cycle. KeyCorp also wanted to implement a single platform for planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting in order to unify all financial processes in a single interface.

BusinessObjects Planning strengthens the link between planning and performance, giving KeyCorp more actionable data for greater accountability across the enterprise. With the driver-based modeling functionality of BusinessObjects Planning, it's easy to link business results with the performance indicators that are most important for business growth. The 200 active users of the BusinessObjects solution at KeyCorp utilize a variety of methods for accountability purposes, such as line of business or geographic market area. A cash flow-based balance sheet planning and forecasting model allows KeyCorp to segment planning into discrete data slices that are more translatable and actionable.

Additionally, direct reconciliation of actuals and plan gives KeyCorp greater control over the planning process—and valuable insight into the necessary steps that turn strategy into results. Users complete quarterly forecasts (in a rolling 18-month format), update actuals monthly for reporting, and include updates to interest rate projections, funds transfer pricing rates, and significant business rule methodology changes on a regular basis.

Results

The new system reaps financial benefits, as McCaffery points out. "All of our major financial business processes are now driven from the BusinessObjects Planning solution—including target setting, planning, forecasting, and management reporting—with minimal customization required. Such consistency of application gives us a system that is much easier and less costly to maintain," says McCaffery. She notes a bonus benefit, saying, "In terms of the initial implementation cost, BusinessObjects Planning was a fraction of the time and capital required for our previous system."

Finance personnel maintain the hierarchies, chart of accounts, and financial business rules themselves, without needing to involve external consultants or KeyCorp's internal IT organization. According to McCaffery, this saves KeyCorp time and money. "Since all of these processes are driven from a common platform or application, there is a shorter learning curve for new employees—which results in lower training costs. While we haven't experienced direct FTE savings as a result of the system, we have been able to expand the scope of the systems and processes we support with the existing staff."

Thanks to the web-based reporting capabilities of BusinessObjects Planning, another benefit has been enhanced self-service for end users, resulting in improved distribution efficiencies and reduced wait times for reports. "We've achieved operational efficiencies not only administratively in our management reporting operations area, but also through our users as they now access one single tool for all their planning, forecasting, management reporting and analysis needs," says McCaffery. And with direct reconciliation of actuals and plan, KeyCorp's 200 active users can be sure of getting a better view of today and tomorrow.

• Learn more about BusinessObjects Planning
• Read more Business Objects customer success stories

Quick Facts

• Industry:
  Financial Services
• Business pain:
  KeyCorp needed to minimize reliance on IT, accelerate the planning cycle, and establish a system that’s easier, less costly to maintain, and readily managed.
• Why Business Objects?
  Business Objects offers a robust, cost-effective solution that enables KeyCorp to streamline its planning processes, reduce TCO, and provide more actionable data for greater accountability.
• Business Objects products and services:
  BusinessObjects Planning