That’s Not My NumberProbably the worst moments I had as a Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis when I was at Pepsi Cola International and Reader’s Digest; was when someone would say, “That’s not my number!” The embarrassment factor was a function of A) The level executives in the room… B) How late in the planning process we… Read More |
Distributed BudgetingAt XLerant, we’re changing how budgeting is done… and who’s doing it Our clients use our flagship application, called BudgetPak, to distribute budgeting to the people driving the actual results. To understand why, read on. Who does the budget in your company? Chances are it’s the Finance department. Who drives the actual results of the… Read More |
Why now? Why are changes to budgeting happening now?We have seen an amazing amount of changes to budgeting and planning over the last 18 months. So why now, what’s triggered these trends? Well, the first one is pretty obvious. It’s the economy stupid. The absolute need to do more with less. Budgeting is all about managing resources and that tends to get a… Read More |
RFP’s Don’t WorkMany organizations still issue RFP’s for selection of software products. Issuing and RFP is an extremely poor way of evaluating software in today’s world, particularly end user software such as budgeting software. RFP’s are generally a generic wish list of historical features and functions that are also normally equally weighted. The process is outdated… Read More |
You can’t create an Interactive BudgetMap in ExcelHere’s a fundamental problem with the budget process we wanted to address. People don’t like budgeting. That’s really the elephant in the living room we’re all trying to navigate around, isn’t it? Here are some of the words I’ve heard line managers and department heads use to describe budgeting: Stressful… Intimidating… Frustrating… Confusing. I’ve heard… Read More |
Why The CTO Should Care About The Budgeting ApplicationWhile CTO’s have always been very busy people, these days the job is even more taxing with constantly evolving software, technology platforms, and now the introduction of cloud computing. That said, there is one application area that has slipped outside the boundaries of the CTO sphere of influence. This application has become mission critical and… Read More |
Employee Retention: How Your Budgeting Process Can Help You Engage (And Keep) Your EmployeesReplacing lost talent is a challenge…to say the least. It costs employers and managers an extraordinary amount of time, resources, and energy when an employee jumps ship. We’re talking lost productivity, overworked remaining staff, lower overall morale, and lost knowledge – plus recruiting, interviewing, and training costs. According to Hay Group senior principal Mark Royal,… Read More |
Why Collaborative Budgeting is important during WFH/hybrid workWhether you refer to it as “decentralized”, “distributed”, or “collaborative”, engaging multiple participants in the budgeting process can be a challenge, especially during today’s WFH/hybrid environment. Department heads are often not experienced in mainstream business practices like budgeting, forecasting and management reporting. Yet, engaging these individuals and gaining their expertise and insight during the budgeting… Read More |
Isn’t it amazing — The evolution of budgetingIsn’t it amazing when someone comes up with an idea and everyone says “That’s obvious, why didn’t they do this 5 years ago?” It’s more amazing still that when the idea catches on nobody would think of going back to the old way of doing things. Malcolm Gladwell talks a lot about this in his… Read More |
Overcoming the Twin Traps of Impact Bias and FocalismIn a previous blog we talked about how Impact Bias and Focalism and lead to some really bad decisions. In a nutshell, the problem is we so focus on our personal needs when it come to business decisions — like what budgeting system to buy – that our perceptions get distorted. Like a fun house… Read More |