When everything’s at stake, the ability to understand the financial health of your business cannot be compromised.
Over the last 10 days, life as we know it has recently changed, forcing most of us to make uncomfortable adjustments in the way we live, shop, play, and work.
Those adjustments have been downright painful but necessary. Yet with a combination of resiliency, creative spirit and our innate ability to rise above trying circumstances, FYIsoft has quickly and successfully adjusted to our “new normal.”
We will persevere, and so will you. Because through this hardship have come many valuable lessons learned – including what it takes to respond quickly to protect our businesses from further discord. One of the most valuable weapons in our arsenal has been our ability to work remotely and adapt on the fly.
Cloud software is the foundation for making remote work teams possible. To all those developers responsible for creating the myriad of software products that have become the lifeblood of our daily work, THANK YOU.
We also want to take this opportunity to thank our own team at FYIsoft for creating the tremendous financial reporting, analytics and budgeting software that has enabled finance teams to continue working without missing a beat when it comes to their financial close.
Through this learning experience we’ve made six realizations that have us declaring, this new normal is a good thing.
- Empowering finance and beyond with 24/7 access to financials
We may take for granted our ability to step into the office every morning and log into our email, CRM, intranet, news and information sites, and all our other mission-critical apps. With the exception of the new view from our home offices, accessing this software is virtually the same from anywhere with an Internet connection – without setup, installation or any other disruption.
Financial data isn’t always as easily accessible outside of the office walls, but for FYIsoft customers, logging into our cloud software is just as easy and secure when working from a remote location. With 90% of U.S. households estimated to have cable high speed internet, most professionals can enjoy the benefits of our ultra-fast financial reports, even from home.
This ability to effectively work remotely covers the entire spectrum of financial report usage, from the finance team preparing the reports to all stakeholders relying on them: department or division heads, senior management, board members or auditors. With varying levels of access rights, authorized users have the flexibility to create or change any report needed without any assistance needed from teammates, IT, or other resources. On the receiving end, report owners can view their financial statements online and conduct their own research by clicking to view all the transaction-level details behind any entry (including attached PDF invoices) – without the ability to alter data or impact the accuracy of the financials.
- Workflow is the new collaboration
Financial close times are difficult even under ideal circumstances when everyone involved is sitting within earshot. The ability to call impromptu meetings, solve reconciliation puzzles, or seek deeper explanations on entries are all critical components of the close process. But when team members are dispersed and working from home, the process becomes a bit like herding cats.
Having workflow capabilities built into our software ensures this collaboration is not lost, but rather conducted online where everything – including reports, distribution lists, dashboards and more – can be easily tracked, referenced, and accessed by all team members. All of this connectedness creates a seamless financial close process that is proven to boost productivity 50% or more.
- Getting financial data to the right people is golden
If there’s one thing management must be certain of during uncertain times, it’s the company’s financial performance. Working remotely cannot impede the urgency to deliver any management report needed, whenever it’s needed.
Yet that can be a daunting task for finance teams, when the distribution of large volumes of reports requires separate financials to be created for each report owner, and then distributed individually with extreme caution to ensure the wrong report (with confidential data) doesn’t get sent to the wrong person.
Even when working remotely, FYIsoft eliminates this risk and enables customers to generate and distribute all reports to exactly the right people – with just a click. Watch this one-minute video to see how easy this is.
- When time is not on your side, spreadsheets aren’t either
Spreadsheets are part of our daily lives, particularly for finance professionals. They’re used to compile, compare, sort, filter, track – nearly every finance function is enhanced with spreadsheets, except when it comes to corporate financial reporting.
Many finance teams still struggle with the massive spreadsheets and endless tabs required to consolidate many different departments, divisions or entities. All of this presents challenges during a routine financial close, but in the midst of crises when the teams may be working remotely and juggling separate files, with management demanding answers yesterday, relying on Excel for financial close processes becomes unmanageable. Especially considering nearly 90% of spreadsheets are estimated to contain errors that often go undetected. (Download our eBook by CFO.com for additional insight.)
One of FYIsoft’s most valuable features that our customers love is the ability to run reports within seconds, with just the click of a button. Whether running ten reports or thousands, or consolidating many companies or even different general ledgers, our customers have complete confidence that the reports are accurate and can be produced quickly, without stress.
- Accurate, real-time data is key
Working remotely can present a disadvantage when it comes to real-time interaction, leaving employees feeling disconnected from social “in person” networking or wondering if their data is up to date. Because FYIsoft’s products connect directly with the accounting system’s general ledger, the data being pulled into our reporting or analysis software is automated, always accurate and reflects the most current data available in the general ledger, usually in real-time (or near).
This is a critical benefit that ensures the financial reports that management is looking at are accurate at any moment in time. The risk of human error or mishaps that occur during data imports or exports are eliminated. In times of crises, the last thing a CFO wants to risk is that urgent, data-driven decisions are based on inaccurate data.
- If you’re not already there, now’s the time to seriously consider a move to the cloud
Customers using on-premises deployments gain access to many of the same cloud benefits outlined above through the use of VPN or remote desktop applications. But they do face limitations when it comes to a remote workforce, including the reliance on IT support. If your company is among those relying on on-prem software, this is a great time to consider making a move to the cloud.
Running on the cloud version of our software offers many benefits, including continued access to the most current enhancements and features, without the disruption and costs of implementing upgrades. As the recent events have taught us, perhaps an even more valuable reason to move to the cloud is that it will ready your business to respond quickly to the next crisis, and provide the confidence of knowing that your finance team is equipped to work remotely, whatever comes your way.
As we all adjust to our new normal, it is FYIsoft’s belief that business must continue with minimal disruption, and we strive to make that happen for our business as well as our customers. If there is anything we can do to lessen your burdens during these challenging times and help to simplify your financial reporting, analysis or budgeting processes, it would be our privilege to assist. To that end, we’d like to invite you to take our finance and reporting software for a test drive. Simply click on this link, fill out the simple form and we can make that happen.