The Spreadsheet Stranglehold: Why Excel is Holding Your Finance

As a finance leader, you’re no stranger to the struggles of financial planning. You’ve likely spent countless hours wrestling with spreadsheets, trying to make sense of numbers that seem to shift and change on their own. But what if I told you that Excel, the trusty tool that’s been your go-to for years, is actually holding your team back?

The Limitations of Excel

We’ve all been there, working late nights to finalize a budget, only to discover that a single formula error has thrown off the entire spreadsheet. Or, you’ve got multiple teams working on different versions of the same plan, and you’re left wondering which one is the “single source of truth.” Excel’s flexibility is both a blessing and a curse. While it’s great for quick calculations and ad-hoc analysis, it’s not designed to handle the complexities of modern financial planning.

Some of the most common challenges finance teams face when using Excel include:

Version control nightmares: Multiple versions of the same plan, each with its own set of changes and updates.
Error-prone formulas: A single mistake can throw off entire calculations, leading to incorrect forecasts and decisions.
Limited visibility: It’s difficult to get a clear picture of what’s happening across departments, making it hard to make informed decisions.

The Opportunity Cost of Excel Planning

The truth is, Excel planning is costing your organization more than just time and frustration. It’s costing you opportunities. When you’re spending months working on a budget, by the time it’s finalized, the business has already moved on. You’re making decisions based on stale data, and you’re missing out on strategic opportunities.

Consider this: one of our clients spent nearly 5 months on annual budgeting in Excel. That’s nearly half the year spent on one cycle. By the time it was finalized, the business had already shifted. The opportunity cost was massive – strategy delayed, opportunities missed, and decisions based on outdated information.

Breaking Free with Workday Adaptive Planning

So, what’s the alternative? Workday Adaptive Planning offers a modern approach to financial planning, one that’s designed to handle the complexities of today’s business environment. With Adaptive, you can:

Centralize planning: Bring all your plans and forecasts into one platform, eliminating version control issues and ensuring everyone is working from the same data.
Automate workflows: Streamline your planning processes, reducing manual errors and freeing up your team to focus on higher-value work.
Model different scenarios: Get real-time insights into how different scenarios will impact your business, enabling you to make more informed decisions.

Real Results

Lucas Kennedy partnered with Jupiter to deploy Workday Adaptive Planning in our Finance department. We needed to work fast and develop a fully integrated solution while maximising the opportunity to automate as much of the core forecasting process as possible. Daniel’s experience in asset management significantly reduced the delivery risk because he anticipated our needs and added a lot to the design before we knew to ask for it. Daniel skilfully led us to a solution that suited us and made the most of the product’s strengths. He is the ideal partner for any team”

Ready to Break Free from Excel?

See how Workday Adaptive Planning can transform your financial planning processes. Schedule a demo today and discover how you can:

Cut your planning cycle in half
Gain real-time visibility into your business
Make more informed decisions with accurate data

Schedule Your Demo Now

Contact us to learn more about Workday Adaptive Planning and schedule a demo. Let’s work together to break free from the limitations of Excel and achieve financial clarity.

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