Improve Planning (and Eliminate Spreadsheets) with Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Aug 14, 20245 mins read
Are you tired of spending countless hours on manual planning and budgeting tasks? Do you wish you had better visibility into your company’s performance? If so, then look to the cloud, specifically cloud enterprise performance management (EPM) applications. In this article, we explore how you can use the cloud to help streamline your planning and budgeting processes, improve collaboration and communication, and gain a competitive advantage.
Use automation to reduce the time spent on manual processes
Automation with cloud applications for your financial planning and budgeting eliminates time-consuming manual processes, reducing data entry and consolidation time and allowing your team to focus on more strategic and impactful tasks. By automating these routine processes, you not only save time but also minimize the risk of human errors that can compromise data integrity. The improved accuracy and consistency of your data will empower you to make more informed decisions. Additionally, cloud applications take automation a step further by streamlining routine tasks such as report generation and forecasting. Automating these tasks gives you more time to analyze and derive insights from the data, propelling your business towards success.
Take advantage of AI to help make better decisions
Artificial Intelligence (AI), embedded in cloud applications, has revolutionized the way businesses operate. By using these advanced systems, you can enhance decision-making capabilities and gain a significant competitive advantage.
One of the ways AI aids decision-making is through intelligent data collection and analysis. AI algorithms can sift through vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, extracting meaningful insights and patterns that might go unnoticed by human analysis alone. This provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the business landscape and enables data-driven choices.
Moreover, AI excels in identifying trends and simulating various scenarios. By leveraging predictive analytics, AI can forecast future outcomes based on historical data and current market conditions. This enables you to anticipate potential challenges and opportunities, develop proactive strategies, and make informed decisions. Additionally, AI can simulate different scenarios, to evaluate the potential impact of various courses of action before you commit resources.
Another advantage of AI in decision-making is its ability to overcome human biases. Cognitive biases that can influence judgments. AI algorithms, on the other hand, are objective and free from such biases. This objectivity ensures that decisions are based solely on data and analysis, leading to more rational and effective outcomes.
AI significantly improves the speed and efficiency of decision-making. By automating routine tasks and providing real-time insights, AI enables you to respond swiftly to changing market dynamics and seize opportunities as they arise.
Consolidate data from multiple sources
Consolidating information from diverse sources is crucial for accurate decision-making. Cloud applications simplify this process by eliminating the need for manual data compilation from various systems, including ERPs, CRMs, and spreadsheets. This automation not only saves valuable time and reduces the risk of errors but also ensures consistency and reliability in data management.
By centralizing your data in a single, secure location, the cloud provides a comprehensive view of performance. This holistic perspective enables informed decisions based on real-time insights, identifies trends, patterns, and opportunities for growth. With improved data accuracy and accessibility, you can allocate resources more effectively, streamline operations, and stay ahead of the competition.
Furthermore, the cloud eliminates the need for manual data consolidation, freeing up valuable resources for more strategic tasks. Instead of spending countless hours compiling and formatting data from disparate sources, your finance team can focus on analyzing the data, identifying actionable insights, and providing strategic recommendations to drive business success. This shift from data management to data analysis unlocks the full potential of data to gain a competitive advantage in the market.
Provide enhanced visibility across your business
With the cloud, you gain a comprehensive and real-time view of your entire organization, helping you to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. Unlike traditional methods that rely on spreadsheets and manual data consolidation, cloud applications centralize all your financial and operational data in a single, secure cloud platform. This eliminates the need to toggle between multiple systems or reconcile data from disparate sources, saving you time and reducing the risk of errors.
Cloud applications for enterprise performance management offer powerful dashboards and reports that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. With a few clicks, you can create insightful visualizations that present KPIs, financial metrics, and operational data in an easily digestible format. These dynamic reports can be easily shared with stakeholders across departments, fostering a data-driven culture and enabling everyone to stay aligned with the organization’s goals.
Drill-down capabilities in the cloud allow you to delve deeper into the details behind the numbers. If you are interested in a specific metric, you can easily go to the transactions or documents that show it in more detail. This level of transparency empowers you to identify root causes, uncover trends, and make informed decisions that drive business success.
Improve collaboration and communication
Cloud applications go beyond automating tasks. They also revolutionize how finance teams work together, providing a centralized platform where cross-functional teams can collaborate on budgets, forecasts, and reports. This seamless collaboration breaks down silos, streamlines processes, and ensures that everyone is on the same page, working towards shared objectives.
Team members can easily comment, ask questions, and share insights directly within the platform. This eliminates the need for scattered emails or disconnected conversations, fostering a more efficient and transparent communication process. Real-time updates and notifications ensure that all stakeholders are always informed about the latest changes and progress, enabling timely decision-making and proactive problem-solving.
Learn about one company’s path to success in financial planning
A recent webinar with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) highlights how the company enhanced financial planning and analysis (FP&A) by leveraging advanced capabilities of Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management to simplify, standardize, and improve planning and forecasting.
View the recording or contact us today to find out how Argano can help improve your enterprise performance management processes.