Seasoned leaders in professional and financial services businesses have long relied on the trusty spreadsheet as the backbone of financial management practices. After all, what could be more reliable and versatile than a meticulously crafted Excel workbook, diligently tracking every penny and pound?
However, the harsh truth is that the reign of the spreadsheet may be coming to an end, at least as the primary tool for monitoring the financial health of our businesses. While accountants of a certain vintage may have a deep, almost familial, attachment to spreadsheets, the reality is that there are far more efficient and effective ways to keep a pulse on your organisations’ financials.
Enter the world of data visualisation and storytelling, powered by tools like SAP Analytics Cloud, Microsoft Power BI and cloud-based ERP systems. These modern platforms offer a level of agility, real-time insight, and visual clarity that simply can’t be matched by the static rows and columns of a spreadsheet.
Directly linked to your cloud-based ERP system, you can now see day-to-day how the key drivers of your business are performing, rather than waiting for the end-of-month reports consisting of pages and pages of numbers. These data visualisations and interactive “stories” provide a much more focused and intuitive way of monitoring both your financial and operational performance.
It’s likely there will always be a place for those detailed spreadsheets when you need to drill into the specifics. But they should no longer be the primary source of information for financial control and decision-making. Our teams should be spending less time buried in complex Excel models and more time analysing the insights presented through these modern data visualisations and reporting tools.
The bottom line is this:
As leaders within the Financial Services and Professional Services industries, you have a responsibility to your organisations to embrace the technological advancements that can help teams to work smarter, not harder. The death of the spreadsheet may be a bittersweet transition for some, but the benefits in terms of agility, insight, and efficiency are undeniable.
So, let’s bid a fond farewell to the spreadsheet as our primary financial management tool, and welcome in a new era of data-driven, visually engaging financial reporting and analysis. Your businesses – and your sanity – will thank us.
Get in touch with our team of experts to take your business to the next level towards true digital transformation. Let’s uncover the ways you can work smarter and not harder to reach your full potential.
