Companies today are facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of rapid innovation, turbulent politics and the COVID-19 pandemic. Industries and organizations that continue to thrive are those able to pivot and plan around an ever-broadening data landscape.
The need for agility in data analysis and business intelligence has never been more critical as traditional financial reporting processes are more susceptible to data errors, security issues and, ultimately, costly delays in forecasting. The additional strain of a pandemic on planning models hasn’t helped matters either.
Finding a Single Source of Truth
For advisor and growth strategist Rick Nordvold, planning and budgeting from spreadsheets has too many limitations.
“You either hit a ceiling with the capabilities of Excel —or the expertise of the finance team using it.”
Nordvold is CEO and founder of Growth Operators, a consulting company that provides comprehensive growth and optimization services in areas of finance, accounting, and human resources. With a focus on maximizing efficiency and adding value for a diverse clientele, Nordvold requires reliable analytics in real-time to generate meaningful strategies.
“As a founder/CEO who spent much of my career as a CFO, I’m less concerned about the function and features of the technology, but I am looking for a single source of truth that will allow me to take action on my business today.”
Identifying the Right Solution
eCapital Advisors specializes in analytics, cloud, and data solutions and helps companies implement business-specific technology that adds value through better decision making. eCapital Advisors experts matched Growth Operators’ business needs with Workday Adaptive Planning, a software solution that delivers on-demand data from a single source with an intuitive interface — data that’s already validated, immediately extractable and actionable.
Reducing compliance exposure is also a priority for Nordvold. The Workday solution continuously audits operational and financial data while it offers sophisticated layered security and privacy safeguards. Built-in process and reporting intelligence automates and tracks all intercompany entries, eliminations and revisions for a completely transparent audit trail.
Workday Adaptive Planning meets another challenge noted by Nordvold (and many CFOs) — that data is rarely presented in a format leadership teams can readily use. It offers self-service reporting functions, which include interactive dashboards and simple drag and drop visualization tools to present precise, clear and engaging information in minutes.
Investing in Business Intelligence
Stakeholders look to Finance to track and respond to an increasing number of data points. The need for speed typically eclipses the abilities of traditional data analytics to respond with sound answers. Spreadsheets are fallible. Opportunities may be missed. Risks can go undetected.
In contrast, the flexible Workday Adaptive Planning solution features rapid model building, scalability and cross-functional collaboration that translate a wide variety of data into expanded insights. With complete information at their fingertips, CFOs can make decisions with clarity and confidence.
How much does it cost to implement a single source of truth? Nordvold suggests Workday Adaptive Planning is less expensive than people probably think.
“With the capabilities it offers, many might imagine it comes with a price tag of $100,000 or $200,000, but it’s very affordable. I can see payback in the first quarter.”
Clear Path to Success
Business leaders now have advanced, yet intuitive data modeling and business intelligence solutions that eliminate manual processes, improve data analytics, and provide leadership dashboarding. Define a clear path to success by implementing a proven platform for data-driven decision making.
