Many financial institutions are looking to innovate to keep up with the changing times. CFOs often lead this change as they know how important it is to have an FP&A software solution that can give them the ability to create budgets and forecasts with greater accuracy. In light of changing business demands, CFOs need to be able to trust their data so they can confidently make informed decisions. But it takes more than having the right financial planning and analysis tool to ensure success. It matters how well this is implemented and whether it is a good fit with how your organization works.
In finance, legacy systems are often so deeply ingrained that they begin to pose a problem to firms in their digital transformation efforts.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the challenges of FP&A for those that are still using legacy systems.
Disjointed Systems Make It Prone to Errors
When using legacy systems, finance teams have to deal with manual copy and pasting from different data sources into separate spreadsheets. When shared and revised multiple times by different stakeholders, it is easy to lose data integrity with multiple versions to work with, leading to inconsistencies and errors that may be difficult to trace along the way. Having to deal with these errors amidst piling mounts of data can easily overwhelm your finance team, making it challenging to retain them longer.
To resolve these issues, it is crucial to implement a cloud FP&A software solution that can easily consolidate data from different sources into a single database so your organization is working on one data source, and no updates get lost along the way. it is also vital to have self-check mechanisms built within the tool or business rules to flag potential errors in the figures.
Advance FP&A software like Cloud PCF can help finance teams automate their financial processes while giving them a rich set of reporting and analysis tools to deliver day-to-day tasks with greater efficiency.
Lack of Reliable Data-Driven Insights
As an organization grows in size and complexity, it is crucial to use a platform equipped to gather real-time insights and analytics. However, most legacy systems traditionally work in siloes and are unable to deliver these insights in real-time. They also require add-on solutions that can help them communicate across different channels throughout the business. Financial teams and organizations will need powerful FP&A software to deal with real-time data from various data sources and analyze it accurately. A cloud FP&A software like Performance Canvas has advanced analytics capabilities that will make it even more useful for large businesses that deal with huge volumes of transactional data.
Amidst changing regulations and business requirements, organizations need to have access to real-time insights to quickly adapt to these changes and make more accurate business decisions. Cloud FP&A software like Performance Canvas will empower organizations to become more agile in the face of volatile markets and give them a better understanding of what needs to be done to drive their business forward into the future.
Difficulty Complying with New Regulations
New regulations are pressuring businesses to analyze large volumes of data in shorter time frames, making it necessary for businesses to have an FP&A software that keeps them up to date with the latest FP&A approaches or practices. Businesses also need a solution that allows them to process massive amounts of data efficiently and present them clearly to drive improved decision-making. Further, companies also need a solution that will enable them to cut down report or budget cycle times.
Financial organizations that rely heavily on their legacy systems will find it challenging to meet these regulatory requirements on time due o various reasons unless they approach the entire process more intelligently.
Best-in-class FP&A software like Performance Canvas will make it easy for organizations to analyze their figures more effectively as it has access and will enable them to compare real-time and historical data easily.
Because Cloud PCF has access to the latest FP&A best practices, real-time data and contains improved team collaboration features, finance teams will find it easier to comply with new regulations and requirements while reducing infrastructure costs.
How Performance Canvas Can Help Finance Teams to Innovate
Legacy systems have worked for years and may continue to be useful for some organizations. But the reality is, finance teams will stumble into these challenges more often as their organization grows or as their customer’s needs change with the times. It is up to these organizations to adopt FP&A software that will allow them to meet these needs or get left behind.
Cloud has quickly become the standard for ERP, giving organizations improved functionality and more features to help them deal with everyday business challenges. COVID-19 has given financial institutions a chance to rethink their stance on Cloud ERP, now that they see the demand to evolve rapidly amidst a time where more people are having to deal with new ways of working. Cloud PCF works with cloud ERP systems and legacy ERP systems deployed on the premises to help most companies transition as painlessly as possible.
Working with a cloud solution for your FP&A needs like Cloud PCF will provide finance teams the freedom to target complex tasks with greater precision. Its advanced reporting and automation features will also dramatically improve how finance teams deal with everyday tasks that used to eat up so much of their time.
If you are looking for a suitable replacement for your legacy system, explore why Cloud PCF is worth considering. Sign up for a free demo.
