The Extent of Customer Data : A study of creating value from customer data for the finance department.

Abstract: Among the diverse perspectives of value creation throughout history, recent studies imply that CFOs and finance officials can contribute to a holistic value creation process by integrating different business values. Therefore, this study aims to research whether the current dilemma of intangible assets (customer data) plays an important role in financial activities to lead to business value creation. The literature review highlights three independent variables; customer loyalty, decision-making, and predicting that are tested for an effect on the dependent variable value creation. Additionally, previous studies highlight data as efficiently utilized in cross-functional environments. A moderating variable cross-functional teams is thereby examined if it has a moderating effect. An online questionnaire was sent to 56 companies who were interested in participating, of which eventually 42 companies responded. Given the low response rate, the results revealed that decision-making was significant and valuable for the finance department’s value creation. However, the moderating effect significantly revealed, on the contrary, to strengthen predicting capabilities for the finance department to create value.