An Executive Brief on utilizing Adaptive Insights to transform you finance department.

Context

As SaaS Co. grows, it will become increasingly important to effectively budget and forecast. The current Corporate Performance Management (CPM) process, which is based in spreadsheets, cannot maintain pace with our company’s dynamically changing environment.

That is why we need to use Adaptive Insights. Adaptive Insights is business planning software built for business agility. It can address the most pressing business challenges our company faces, including revenue management, workforce management, expense management, and capital management. It will provide the Finance Department with the ability to model, perform analytics, and provide management & board reporting to the rest of the Company.

World View

Over the last 10 years, businesses have moved away from hardware and infrastructure in favor of cloud capabilities. For SaaS Co.’s CPM process to thrive, we need to move beyond locally stored spreadsheets and documents, toward the cloud. Companies are utilizing cloud infrastructure for many reasons. Here is a list of the top 7:

1. Social responsibility – Cloud implementations reduce carbon footprint by 95% over on-premises deployments.

2. Faster time to value – Deployment is much faster because no local space or hardware is required.

3. Reduced risk – No upfront costs in hardware reduce barriers to entry for smaller companies like us, and allow us to compete with much larger competitors on CPM.

4. Global process alignment – A single cloud platform for CPM will allow us to standardize processes.

5. Mobile and collaborative – Adaptive Insights in the cloud will allow for version control, eliminate conflicted copies of reports, and improve collaboration across our multiple office locations.

6. Instant version upgrades – IT staff will not be burdened when the software needs to be updated. All updates happen automatically and instantly in a non-disruptive fashion.

7. Security – Often times, on-premises systems have security vulnerabilities, and require capital intensive upgrades to maintain pace with outside competition. Cloud-based systems are more likely to stay up to date with the latest security trends.

Company View

The Finance Department’s current CPM process is based in spreadsheets. Spreadsheets were never designed for corporate planning at scale. They expose many gaps in the current planning process, including lack of security, lack of real-time reporting, lack of effective collaboration, and lack of integrative capabilities.

As the company grows, our pain points will only get worse unless we adapt. Collaborative planning in spreadsheets is neither flexible nor scalable. True collaboration, which can be done in Adaptive Insights, leads to an active planning process between Finance and the rest of the organization. Once everyone is relying on one trusted set of numbers in the cloud (instead of disparate spreadsheets), we can spend time on analysis and providing true insights to the business.

The Finance Department’s ability to provide real-time analytics and dashboards to the Company is constrained by our CPM spreadsheet process. If Adaptive Insights is implemented, users can take control with self-service, interactive dashboards, visualizations, and charts to help monitor and drive business performance. Dashboards provide users with the ability to personalize and analyze financial, sales, and operational dashboards with KPI’s that are relevant to their success.

Partner View

Many stakeholders will benefit from the implementation of Adaptive Insights. Though the tool is primarily used for internal CPM, external parties will benefit from a company that will grow faster as a result the Adaptive Insights implementation. Additionally, the software will give us the capability to produce stunning, instantly updated reports for management, the board, and external parties.

Change

Any solution implementation will require change from department participants in the CPM process. Companywide, employees can’t wait to leave behind the spreadsheets and move to a collaborative cloud-based platform. Adaptive Insights is an out-of-the box solution. The user-friendly interface and seamless version control will be a welcome change for all parties involved.

Return on Investment

The software’s ability to control versions, calculate complex formulas at many department levels, and generate reports will replace the tedious task of having financial analysts iterate within spreadsheets. New assumptions can be added on the fly to see many what-if scenarios. The amount of hours saved can be measured in the thousands per year, all while improving visibility across operations and promoting flexibility in a dynamically changing business environment.

Call to Action

What happens next? Initial setup of the budget and forecast model within Adaptive Insights will take 1-2 months. Process changes can be communicated to all budget owners and CPM stakeholders. Full implementation will allow the company to make better strategic decisions and scale the business at a faster pace.

FAQ

How can Adaptive Insights improve the company’s strategic decision making?

With Adaptive Insights, the company will be able to move away from static annual budgets, toward a more flexible model. The software will allow for faster and more effective change management due to its agility and collaborative nature. Its cloud component allows for widened participation in the CPM process, so every key voice is heard. Additionally, budget iterations can happen much more frequently, and allow the company to adapt to a constantly changing business environment.

Does Adaptive Insights provide a high level of security?

Adaptive Insights is recognized as a leader in cloud security. At the heart of all its operations and decisions is an aim to protect customer data. The company is regularly audited and certified for security compliance by third parties. They currently have certificates for AICPA SOC I, SOC II, and SOC III.

Does Adaptive Insights allow for personalized roles and different levels of access?

The Finance Department understands its role in controlling access to sensitive information. Adaptive Insights allows for highly granular user roles based on departments, dimensions, and group levels. You can be assured that salary data and other sensitive information will remain secure.

What does the Adaptive Insights interface look like?

The software provides a user-friendly interface for financial modeling and forecasting. Views are available to see all different aspects of the business, including all revenue assumptions, people management, operating expense management, and capex planning. Financial statements are easily accessible, including the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow.