Why CFOs Must Learn to Embrace Integrated Financial Planning Now

CFOs need to embrace integrated financial planning, while leveraging emerging technologies into the planning process. With the help of technology, businesses can speed up the budgeting cycle, free up resources, create up-to-date forecasts, and reduce the potential for error.

Keeping Up with Growing Data

Businesses need to adapt to new technologies in order to enhance efficiency.

Successful integrated financial planning relies on the use of various sources of data to generate accurate future forecasts. However, the quantity of useful data is increasing, and it’s expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Storing, utilizing, and analyzing that data will become increasingly difficult as a result.

To keep up with increasing volumes of data and to be able to analyze it effectively, companies need to utilize technology to their benefit. With the help of cloud-based EPM solutions, businesses can manage and scale their planning data easily. With cloud-based EPM software, businesses can gain added analysis potential over their data by accessing multi-dimensional modeling capabilities that increase business insights and enable users to rapidly create a variety of what-if scenarios. These technologies will be critical to integrated financial planning in the coming years, and businesses that want to remain competitive need to embrace the technological advancements that simplify financial planning.

Enhanced Reporting Abilities

Businesses can’t just rely on accurate data – they need accurate, up-to-date data. To create accurate financial forecasts, businesses need timely information based on current trends that reflect the direction of the business. Cloud-based EPM software is ideal for integrated financial planning, because it can streamline the reporting process, so management and financial reports are always current and accurate. Rather than waiting until the books are closed every month or quarter, users can get access to real-time data enabling them to create more accurate reports to rely on, and leverage in the planning process.

Utilizing Dynamic Forecasting

As a business grows and changes, the demands on that business also increase. For dynamic industries, there are innumerable variables and risk factors that impact the future of the company, and those variables make it challenging to create accurate forecasts. With the use of cloud-based EPM solutions, businesses can create adaptable rolling forecasts that are routinely updated to reflect changes in the business, economy, industry, and marketplace, allowing for more accurate forecasts, despite variables and uncertainties.

Determining the Technological Needs of a Company

Technology makes rolling forecasting easy, so businesses can plan for fluctuations and variables.

There is little doubt that integrated financial planning can benefit from leveraging technology, but what technology(s) does your business need most? To determine the most relevant technologies for your company, you need to consider the goals of your company as well as the best practices in the industry. If your competition is benefiting from time-saving technology that your company isn’t utilizing, it’s only a matter of time before you fall behind in the marketplace.

Integrated financial planning is a critical aspect of every business, and yet, as data continues to grow and competition increases, financial planning becomes more time-consuming and prone to inaccuracy. Businesses need to be willing to harness the potential of technology to enhance their financial planning, increase its accuracy, and simplify the planning cycle.

With the help of cloud-based EPM software, businesses can enjoy all of the benefits of the cloud, while accessing advanced modeling capabilities and streamlined reporting that will improve financial planning and advance the goals of the company.