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Why NOW is the Right Time to Convince Your Management to Implement an FP&A Software


Budget season is upon us, and as a finance professional you are swamped trying to analyze budget data. The idea of implementing an FP&A software is not on your radar - but you know it’s the solution to your current budget problems. The issue remains, your management has heard this idea before and is set in their ways, so how can you convince your superiors?

Let’s dive into the 4 key points that will make saying no, impossible, and get you an FP&A solution for this Q4!


1) It Allows Us to Organize Data


Many companies have data spread across multiple systems and once exported the mess truly begins. Forecasts, budgets, actuals, dashboards, and charts start being added and edited by different players in the company all with different agendas and goals. This creates multiple copies of the same spreadsheets that finance professionals are too commonly accustomed to - do you hear versioning issues ringing in your ears? Being able to organize data into one unified dataset will make it easier for management to track what’s important to them. Does your manager recall the time it took you an hour to find the right version of that crucial spreadsheet?

2) It Saves Time


The average finance department spends 56 days merely compiling the budget for the upcoming year. The majority of this time is spent on manual processes - inputting data from the various departments, negotiating the numbers, and checking for errors. With budget season here, time is of the essence and the ability to speed up these current processes is invaluable to an organization. By eliminating these many time-consuming elements from the company's budgeting processes, time is freed up for what FP&A professionals were hired to do, analyze the data.


3) It Reduces Expenses


Manpower is the company’s largest expense. Now when a finance professional’s time is lost on manual processes their worth is being wasted and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Submission reconciliation and a variety of other tedious tasks that FP&A specialists find themselves buried in - are all at the expense of the company, an expense that can be avoided.


Speaking of aversion, when FP&A specialists have the time to crunch the numbers rather than edit them they have the ability to see where the money is being wasted. They can find costly mistakes, rearrange budgets to better manage expected costs and the changes to them. The amount saved by implementing a new software greatly outweighs the costs - in most cases management doesn’t realize what these outdated processes are currently costing them. Bringing to light the number of expenses that can be reduced or eliminated altogether - is your bread and butter, in your case for new software. I mean who can dispute the numbers, right?



4) The Future of Finance is Forward-Looking


FP&A software is without a doubt the future of finance and with budget season around the corner, it is time to consider this option. The issue with most finance departments is that they spend their time focusing on the past. Gathering data from the past, summarizing it, creating budgets, and attempting to forecast the future based on past data. With COVID we know the past isn’t the most reliable indicator of what the future holds - so why isn’t your finance department forward-looking as well?


Forward-looking makes damage control easy to avert and a game plan something built into the bones. It allows for the focus to be on what the company can achieve and not what it ‘should be’. Future looking finance departments assist management in creating what-if scenarios and actively work to better the company rather than just summarizing it. Why not utilize the manpower you have and truly reap the benefits of staff already familiar with your business?


Adopting an FP&A software means moving to a forward-looking mentality that automates tedious tasks and brings the focus of finance departments back to where it should be - crunching numbers for decision making. Does your management understand that making decisions on real-time accurate data is needed across a company? By adopting a finance software decision-makers can get a 360-degree view of a company’s health at any moment - an invaluable ideology that is easy to accomplish.


The FP&A Solutions your Management will Love


Software is upgraded constantly but when it comes to FP&A professionals Microsoft’s Excel has been the go-to for over three decades. In many cases, the majority of operations are still based on this legacy software. DataRails is making waves in the industry as the one solution that adapts to your current interface - including the incorporation of Excel spreadsheets. Now you can adopt a solution without moving away from your trusted Excel!


DataRails is an FP&A software that actually works with your existing Excel software. This is how they guarantee an FP&A software with the fastest implementation available as they wrap their solution around your existing budget process. Rather than having to change your current processes, you can merely incorporate them into a financial analytics platform that takes into account your Excel-based budgeting process. It can even provide you with the automated processes you need for this budget period. It is well priced, easy to implement with no IT needed and offers those drastic results expected from the adoption of new software.


Sick of Excel?


Now if you are looking to overhaul your operations in their entirety, Centage offers multiple solutions with proven results. The implementation period can be lengthy, but they provide the ability to create an entirely new FP&A process that will transport your company into the future. With their many options and ability to integrate with existing tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365, Centage wants to show you a better way to budget and plan - one that leaves spreadsheets in the past.


Key Take-Aways


FP&A software organizes data from across the organization. It has the ability to save time, reduce expenses, takes advantage of the man-power already available, and allows you to focus on the future versus summarizing the past. With the low-cost, easy to implement options available - you only need a couple of days to get your financial analytics platform up and running. So what is your management waiting for? Another pandemic? Convince your management, stop working with tedious manual processes, and upgrade to an FP&A software to propel your company into the future and prepare them for the uncertain times ahead.






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The Finance Weekly is designed to help financial professionals make confident decisions online, this website contains information about FP&A products and services. Certain details, including but not limited to prices and special offers, are sometimes provided to us directly from our partners and are dynamic and subject to change at any time without prior notice. Though based on meticulous research, the information we share does not constitute legal or professional advice or forecast, and should not be treated as such.

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