Tax innovation meets pragmatism

As expectations and pressure to innovate increase, tax functions can contribute realism and practicality, bringing innovative ideas to life on a solid data foundation.

Set the stage for pragmatic innovation by ensuring management and integration of your data and technology. With your data and tech house in order, take on an acknowledged business problem for an initial innovation project. Known problems are easily prioritized, and an early success will be noticed.

“It’s tempting to overreact to the demand for innovation — adopting too much, too quickly, without a clear strategy. Besides being costly, this approach can be demoralizing and even lead to less long-term innovation.”

Rob Clarke

National Managing Principal, Tax Digital Consulting

There are several advantages to an incremental and pragmatic approach, which focuses on a change that can be made on a modest budget and implemented by a core team with minimal disruption to larger processes. Such an approach makes it easier to demonstrate ROI and achieve milestones.

As Carli McClure, Grant Thornton managing director of Tax Innovation, noted: “An incremental approach also provides insight into the larger challenges your organization is facing. These successes build confidence in both the change agents and the executives who must accept and approve the change. Small wins spur larger investments.”

Download Tax innovation meets pragmatism for guidance for improving data governance and usage, and achieving incremental wins.