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AT&T Finance

Enabling seamless financial operations that power global connectivity while delivering unparalleled financial excellence

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Enabling seamless financial operations that power global connectivity while delivering unparalleled financial excellence

Strengths

  • ASSETS: Massive network infrastructure with 5G investments
  • BRAND: Strong recognized brand with 135+ years of heritage
  • REVENUE: Stable cash flows from wireless subscription model
  • SCALE: Vast customer base of 160M+ wireless subscribers
  • TALENT: Deep bench of financial expertise across disciplines

Weaknesses

  • DEBT: High debt load of $128.7B limiting strategic flexibility
  • COMPLEXITY: Legacy systems create operational inefficiencies
  • AGILITY: Slow decision-making in rapidly evolving market
  • INTEGRATION: Siloed financial processes across business units
  • AUTOMATION: Limited adoption of modern financial technologies

Opportunities

  • FIBER: Expand fiber network to add 2M+ new locations annually
  • 5G: Monetize 5G investments with premium service offerings
  • DATA: Leverage customer financial data for strategic insights
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Strategic fintech alliances to modernize systems
  • SIMPLIFICATION: Streamline financial operating model for agility

Threats

  • COMPETITION: Aggressive pricing from T-Mobile and Verizon
  • REGULATION: Increasing regulatory scrutiny and compliance costs
  • TECHNOLOGY: Rapid technological shifts requiring major capex
  • ECONOMIC: Inflationary pressures impacting consumer spending
  • TALENT: War for specialized financial technology talent

Key Priorities

  • DEBT: Implement aggressive debt reduction plan
  • DIGITAL: Accelerate financial systems modernization
  • EFFICIENCY: Optimize cost structure across all operations
  • INTEGRATION: Unify financial operations across business units

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Enabling seamless financial operations that power global connectivity while delivering unparalleled financial excellence

FINANCIAL STRENGTH

Build industry-leading fiscal resilience and flexibility

  • DELEVERAGING: Reduce net debt by $4B through operational efficiency and asset optimization by end of Q2
  • CASHFLOW: Increase quarterly free cash flow to $4.8B through working capital optimization and capex efficiency
  • EFFICIENCY: Implement zero-based budgeting across all business units reducing OpEx by $600M this quarter
  • AUTOMATION: Deploy RPA solutions for 40% of manual finance processes reducing processing costs by 25%
DIGITAL FINANCE

Transform financial systems for speed and intelligence

  • PLATFORM: Complete migration of 60% of financial applications to cloud-based ERP platform by Q2 end
  • ANALYTICS: Launch AI-powered financial forecasting dashboard with 90% accuracy for 5 key metrics
  • INTEGRATION: Unify data from 6 legacy financial systems into central data lake with real-time access
  • TRAINING: Upskill 75% of finance team on digital finance tools with measurable proficiency gains
OPERATIONAL EDGE

Deliver best-in-class finance operational excellence

  • CLOSE: Reduce monthly financial close cycle from 8 days to 4 days through process optimization
  • PROCUREMENT: Implement AI-powered spend analysis reducing procurement costs by 8% across categories
  • PLANNING: Launch zero-based continuous planning process replacing annual budgeting in 3 business units
  • CONTROLS: Deploy automated compliance monitoring covering 80% of high-risk transactions by quarter end
UNITY

Create seamless financial alignment across the business

  • REPORTING: Standardize financial reporting across all business units with unified KPI dashboard
  • SIMPLIFICATION: Reduce financial approval layers from 6 to 3 while maintaining governance standards
  • COLLABORATION: Implement cross-functional financial business partnering model in 4 key business units
  • ALIGNMENT: Cascade and align quarterly financial targets to 100% of cost center owners with weekly tracking
METRICS
  • FREE CASH FLOW: $17B for 2024, quarterly target $4.3B
  • DEBT-TO-EBITDA RATIO: Reduce from 3.1x to 2.8x by year-end
  • FINANCE COST-TO-REVENUE: Reduce from 1.2% to 0.9% by Q4
VALUES
  • Integrity and Transparency
  • Customer-Centric Financial Solutions
  • Operational Excellence
  • Innovation and Agility

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Align the learnings

AT&T Finance Retrospective

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Enabling seamless financial operations that power global connectivity while delivering unparalleled financial excellence

What Went Well

  • WIRELESS: Strong postpaid phone net adds of 424,000 exceeding estimates
  • FIBER: Added 252,000 fiber subscribers, maintaining strong growth momentum
  • FCF: Generated $4.6B in free cash flow, up 36% year-over-year in Q1 2023
  • EFFICIENCY: Achieved $2.1B in run-rate cost savings ahead of target schedule

Not So Well

  • BUSINESS: Business wireline revenue declined 7.9% year-over-year in Q1 2023
  • CHURN: Postpaid phone churn increased slightly to 0.79% versus prior year
  • BROADBAND: Non-fiber broadband connections continued to decline by 18.6%
  • MARGINS: EBITDA margins pressured by inflationary costs despite mitigation

Learnings

  • FOCUS: Strategic focus on core connectivity services driving growth metrics
  • INVESTMENT: Targeted network investments yielding superior customer gains
  • SIMPLIFICATION: Organizational simplification improving operational agility
  • DISCIPLINE: Financial discipline and cost control enhancing cash generation

Action Items

  • ACCELERATION: Accelerate fiber deployment to exceed 2.5M+ locations in 2023
  • OPTIMIZATION: Implement zero-based budgeting across all financial operations
  • AUTOMATION: Deploy RPA for 50% of manual finance processes by year-end 2023
  • INTEGRATION: Consolidate financial systems to single cloud-based platform

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Enabling seamless financial operations that power global connectivity while delivering unparalleled financial excellence

Strengths

  • DATA: Vast customer and financial transaction datasets
  • SCALE: Enterprise-level AI infrastructure and resources
  • TALENT: Growing pool of financial AI and data science expertise
  • INVESTMENT: Dedicated budget for finance AI transformation
  • LEADERSHIP: Executive commitment to AI-driven finance

Weaknesses

  • LEGACY: Outdated systems limiting AI implementation
  • SILOS: Fragmented data architecture across finance functions
  • SKILLS: Shortage of advanced AI skills in finance organization
  • ADOPTION: Resistance to AI-driven process changes
  • GOVERNANCE: Underdeveloped AI governance framework

Opportunities

  • AUTOMATION: Automate 60% of routine financial processes
  • FORECASTING: Enhance accuracy of financial forecasting by 30%
  • INSIGHTS: Deploy AI for real-time financial decision support
  • COMPLIANCE: Strengthen regulatory compliance through AI
  • EFFICIENCY: Reduce financial close process time by 40%

Threats

  • SECURITY: Increased cybersecurity risks with AI systems
  • COMPETITION: Fintech disruption of traditional processes
  • REGULATION: Evolving AI regulatory landscape and compliance
  • ETHICS: Reputational risks from biased AI financial models
  • TALENT: Difficulty attracting specialized AI finance talent

Key Priorities

  • PLATFORM: Build unified finance AI platform and data lake
  • AUTOMATION: Scale AI-powered financial process automation
  • UPSKILLING: Launch comprehensive AI finance training program
  • GOVERNANCE: Establish robust ethical AI governance framework

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AI Disclosure

This report was created using the Alignment Method—our proprietary process for guiding AI to reveal how it interprets your business and industry. These insights are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.

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