Deloitte Africa’s Andries van den Berg, Financial Transformation Leader, and Anaplan EMEA MD Dayne Turbitt show how connected finance breaks down silos, links strategy to measurable value, and equips CFOs to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
CFOs are contending with unprecedented breadth of change. Keeping pace is hard enough; doing so while anticipating risk and planning ahead demands a shift from periodic planning to always‑on, connected planning. In markets that move quickly, where supply chains can be disrupted overnight and boards expect real‑time evidence, connected finance is now central to turning strategy into measurable outcomes.
“Connected finance means breaking down silos and creating a singular platform where everybody plans and it easily translates into financial results, which ultimately equals shareholder value - if you plan often and accurately” Andries explains. Dayne adds: “If every silo has its own spreadsheet, spending time reconciling data instead of making decisions. With a single source of truth, you walk into the meeting and the data is the data. Then you can ask, ‘What if I shift resources? Pull out of one country and invest in another’? And run scenarios very quickly.”
Connected finance in action
A clear example of connected finance in action is the Deloitte and Anaplan partnership. Connected finance integrates planning and data across business functions to give CFOs a single source of truth for real‑time, scenario‑based decisions that link strategy to measurable outcomes.
Anaplan is a global, cloud-native platform for enterprise planning, consolidation, and reporting. Its ultra-fast calculation engine enables organisations to analyse granular data, model complex scenarios, and optimise decision-making at scale across finance, sales, supply chain, HR, and operations. Deloitte, as one of the world’s largest professional services firms operating across more than 150 countries, focuses on finance transformation so clients can maximise shareholder value through structured methodologies. Together, Anaplan’s technology and Deloitte’s methodologies create a powerful fit that turns data-driven insights into actionable plans that directly drive enterprise value.
Dayne explains that technology delivers its full impact with the right expertise: “We’re a technology, you can put anything into our platform, and they always say, ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ Deloitte’s Enterprise Value Map (EVM) identifies the key drivers in a business. Deloitte defines those value drivers, and we operationalise them in the platform so clients have real‑time visibility of the current state and can test multiple futures.”
Andries explains further: “Once we understand which levers truly matter for shareholder value, you plan for those levers and ask, ‘If we shift a specific value driver in the model, what’s the impact on shareholder value output?’ That’s how we link connected finance to Deloitte’s Enterprise Value Map (EVM).”
The benefits of partnership in connected finance
The partnership follows a simple model: Deloitte brings the process & industry depth; Anaplan brings the platform. “ERPs are brilliant systems of record, but they’re not designed to change at the whim of a senior stakeholder in a meeting. Platforms like Anaplan provide the planning agility to agree a change, plan for it, track it, and pivot fast. ‘Fail fast’ only works if you have data to show you’re on the right or wrong track,” says Andries.
For Dayne, the strength lies in agility and scale. “It is a 15‑year‑old technology, cloud‑native from the start, designed in a microservices architecture. We call them honeycombs. You can solve a specific problem quickly and then connect it into the bigger picture. That is why our implementation cycles are typically 8 to 12 weeks.” An FP&A implementation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached MVP in 12 weeks after a 3-to-4-week scoping phase, and a capital planning implementation in Saudi Arabia was delivered in 10 weeks. “And it scales. Fortune 50 workloads, supply chains and workforce planning run because the calculation engine handles truly massive models.”
Dayne illustrates the clear benefits further by sharing successes from some of their clients: “CVH Spirits improved forecast accuracy by 20% in just 12 weeks; Straumann improved demand forecast accuracy by 18%, worth around CHF 3.63 million in annual inventory impact. Jaguar Land Rover used connected finance to respond to tariff changes over a single weekend, pausing and restarting shipments to avoid billions in unnecessary duty costs.”
Benefits extend beyond financial performance. Andries notes a work‑life improvement for one client: “Anaplan’s Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) platform gave the CFO time back to focus on strategic decisions and to be present with his family.”
The CFO’s mandate
Central to the Deloitte and Anaplan partnership is the expanding strategic mandate of the CFO. “I am seeing more CFOs become CEOs,” says Andries. “Data‑savvy CFOs understand how operational drivers translate into financial results, which is a hidden advantage. They are not simply an accounting function anymore; they sit at the centre of strategy.”
Dayne adds: “CFOs have a unique vantage point across the whole business. They see how market conditions, capital allocation and profitability connect. In today’s environment they must pivot quickly, and only real‑time, connected data from sales, supply chain and HR makes that possible.”
Connected finance and human-centric AI
Looking ahead, both Andries and Dayne see AI as a practical accelerator rather than a replacement for human expertise. “AI will not take your job; the person who knows how to use AI will. It lowers the barrier to building models. You can describe the logic, the assistant scaffolds the model, and you review and deploy. It supports the human; it does not replace the human,” says Andries.
Dayne agrees: “AI is a productivity tool. Ask it to scan dashboards and flag exceptions, for example, ‘find every country missing budget by 5 percent,’ so people spend their time on judgement and action. You do not need billion‑dollar experiments. Be a fast follower: adopt proven capabilities now and improve productivity and accuracy immediately. Ignore AI at your peril. It takes courage to face the unknown, start experimenting, and find the sweet spot for your company.”
AI is especially critical in connected finance because CFOs must not only understand the past but also model multiple possible futures. As Andries puts it: “Transactional systems of record tell you everything you have done; very few systems let you create and compare multiple futures.”
Together, Deloitte and Anaplan show that connected finance is not simply about keeping pace with change. It powers future planning, links strategy to measurable value, and is central to the evolution of the CFO role.
