My title is so strange, Manager of Business Analytics. Business Analytics??? what is that? If I polled everyone I knew about what department that was in, I bet only about 50% would get it right.

I sit in finance, and because of that, I think a lot of functions (e.g. Sales, Marketing, Ops) are hesitant to seek my help because it seems like I’m always looking to save money.

Although this is true, I’m always interested in what’s best for the company. I will objectively review the facts and provide an unbiased view. Are departments that are measured on top line or margin performance always looking for an unbiased view?

To connect those dots, finance offers financial advice to other departments. If you don’t want to use my assistance, it’s probably because

1. You have someone who does this for you
2. You don’t believe my advice is objective
3. You don’t want objective advice but want what makes you look good
4. You don’t like me or finance

In a cost cutting economy like this, 1 most likely isn’t an option. So it probably comes down to 2 or 3 (and 4, but hopefully not 4). I know my advice is objective, which usually makes me think that when people don’t want to use finance for help, it’s because they don’t want the truth. They’d rather have a manipulation of the truth. This results in that common occurrence in companies of 2-3 numbers for the exact same thing, which immediately leads to distrust and confusion.

it would be nice if there was always just one number per question, and questions could be asked several different ways. One source of truth…what do you think?