Systems and Tools

WHAT:

The last two decades has brought a tremendous amount of change in terms of data.  We have moved from fairly archaic tools that allowed one to access information through an excel interface hooked up to a DataMart to highly sophisticated tools that can integrate your manufacturing, accounting, planning and analysis all in one place.   We have also gone from not having enough information to run a business to in some cases having too much information.  There is a domino effect as well where volume drives complexity which then demands more sophisticated tools requiring heavy lifting in terms of implementation.  Many CFOs are plagued with the challenge of harnessing the data they have in a timely manner so as to make the best possible decisions for driving profitability in their business.  I have had experience with a number of systems and they all have their pluses and minuses – some are better at charts and graphs, others are better on the planning side and most are pretty equal on the accounting side but none of them are excel.  In fact, the first feature any FP&A person will ask for in a system is how well it exports data to excel.  The reason for this is that FP&A is the artistic side of the finance world and it is the only place where a finance person can be truly creative in framing an issue and then dissecting it in order to tell a story or offer a CFO some options.

SO WHAT:

The nasty little secret of any system implementation is that you end up in excel anyway.  Every executive is a customer with unique set of requirements.