When it comes to planning and budgeting, most businesses aim to drive their strategic agendas into action, but the reality falls far short. Too many organisations plan only for the year ahead, or struggle to access the data they need to achieve in-depth planning.
Many companies try to overcome these challenges by implementing a variety of solutions. These range from the use of even more spreadsheets, to cobbling together bits and pieces of various systems in the hopes that this will give them the insights they need. While the financial teams using these become used to their idiosyncrasies and work around the drawbacks, some have started appreciating the benefits offered by an EPM solution that supports planning and the more efficient management of resources.
Planning and budgeting may only be a small part of an EPM system, but it is one of the most impactful. Providing the foundation for a unified way to drive the business, a centralised planning process significantly speeds up the time taken to forecast and plan, enabling sales, operational and strategic plans to be linked to long-term and near-term financial plans.
Traditionally, planning and budgeting is typically done using spreadsheets being exchanged between and within operations, lines of business, and finance teams. It’s no wonder that companies struggle to make decisions quickly. An EPM system facilitates the enterprise- and departmental-level planning process by providing both Excel-based and web-based modelling, planning and approval capabilities within a collaborative, scalable solution. This takes the time needed for planning, forecasts, and budgets from days to seconds.
While there is still a place for Excel, leveraging one unified financial planning system enables a level of agility that is almost impossible to achieve otherwise. In fact, it is highly unlikely that there is any company out there that isn’t using Excel, and the trick is to implement a solution that integrates Excel to a central EPM application.
In fact, the reporting and data form functionality has improved within EPM applications to limit the need or habit to go straight to Excel. A lot of effort has been implemented by the development teams in this regard, such as tabs at bottom of the screen, the ability for multiple forms to be opened, breadcrumbs, and the ability to edit forms in terms of layout, etc. from an opened data form, to name a few.
The benefits of a centralised planning or consolidation application with full audit capability – which is essential for traceability, risk and compliance – cannot be overstated. With less user input, there are less errors and a faster turnaround time. More than eliminating mistakes, an EPM planning solution delivers reliable results, fast.
With cloud applications making EPM easier to implement, many companies have started their journey with the planning and budgeting component. By their very nature, cloud-based EPM solutions allow companies to invest in a complete solution in a more careful and cost-effective way, making it much easier to motivate not only from a cost perspective, but backed by the proof of the efficacy of the first few components. When the planning and budgeting works, why not add consolidation and close?
Providing alignment between detailed business plans and financial goals, not to mention much improved agility, EPM allows you to develop a strategic plan as and when it’s needed. Most importantly, it is a fast, effective way to ensure those plans are actioned to ensure the best results.
With today’s fast pace of change, it’s dangerous to get stuck in old, inefficient ways of working. With a new year around the corner, it’s time to do something different. It’s time to plan better.
