Despite the fact that Profitbase’s solutions have been among the best on the market, the company has spent the last few years creating something even bigger.
The result is a CFO platform that unites finance, strategy and daily operations.
– The journey here has taken shape step by step. With each step, together with our customers, we have come closer to this breakthrough, begins CEO of Profitbase, Stig Roar Sandvik, and recalls what led up to the launch of the CFO platform:
– For more than 30 years, Profitbase has had expert finance professionals and skilled developers who have worked shoulder to shoulder in close collaboration with customers.
The collaborations with large complex businesses and groups in all types of industries have been characterized by great expectations from both sides. This has set the tone for the quality of all solutions that have seen the light of day, from budget and forecasting to consolidation, risk management, financial reporting and Power BI visualizations.
For more than 30 years, Profitbase has employed expert finance professionals and skilled developers who have worked shoulder to shoulder in close collaboration with customers. The collaborations with large, complex businesses and groups across all types of industries have set the stage for the quality of all solutions that have seen the light of day, from budgeting and forecasting to consolidation, risk management, financial reporting, and Power BI visualizations.
– The solutions we have developed over time have been among the best you can find on the market, but as individual solutions there was an unfulfilled potential that we felt obliged to do something about, states Sandvik, and continues:
– Now, everything gets a much stronger foundation and is united in the same universe with the CFO platform, so that they work together to equip the finance function to support the business’s value creation.
The CFO platform serves as a common foundation that strengthens and improves both standardized and custom-made solutions from Profitbase, reducing the need for costly and complex system adaptations.
– The immediate value finance teams will get from the CFO platform is that it solves integration problems and automates the collection and compilation of financial data in a seamless way, says Sandvik.
Addressing challenges around integration and data handling has been important to reduce the finance department’s burden of manual and time-consuming work in the form of searching for, maintaining, and stitching together numbers in a myriad of spreadsheets and fragmented systems.
– This also reduces technology fragmentation and costs linked to investments in complex ERP system adaptations, robotic process automation (RPA) or other connection services, adds Sandvik.
The security aspect is also central. In organizations where spreadsheets form the backbone of business management, one must work under the assumption that no one will make mistakes. Access control is also a perennial problem when everything is done in spreadsheets. When attachments in e-mails are sent back and forth, it is easy for sensitive and classified information to end up in the wrong inbox.
The CFO platform solves this with access management and advanced security functions, providing a safe framework to involve all levels of the organization without fear of sensitive data going astray.
– In short, the CFO platform helps the finance function to get an overview and control of both financial and non-financial data, says Sandvik.
– With the data gathered safely in one place, one can lay the foundations for business management at-scale by building up good structures and processes that can be used for financial reporting, or as a basis for forecasting and other strategic decision-making bases.
What used to take three weeks, now takes three minutes.
Prepared for the challenges of the future
Sandvik clarifies that Profitbase has not attempted to replace or compete with the ERP systems, which are essential for transaction management. The solutions and the CFO platform are carefully designed to help the financial department take a step further, from the transactional to the operational and strategic levels of business management.
Since true efficiency in business management requires a look at both the past, present and future, the CFO platform has been designed so that it not only fulfils present needs. It also provides flexibility and opportunities to adapt to changes in the business landscape, and tackle the changing expectations and demands from management, the board and regulatory authorities.
– New things happen all the time, notes Sandvik, before elaborating further:
– A couple of years ago, a position had to be taken on requirements for ESG reporting. Now it’s the Transparency Act. Small and large changes are happening constantly, and they are happening faster than before. This affects the area of responsibility of the CFOs, and comes on top of traditional tasks such as accounting, annual reports and budgets. It has therefore been important to equip finance teams with a future-oriented one platform, which meets today’s needs and is able to adapt to future challenges.
The development team at Profitbase has made this possible by basing the platform on a Low-Code concept, meaning it can be quickly adapted and expanded with new solutions to support business processes both within and outside the finance function.
– The Low -Code concept is the stroke of genius from our developers, which means that the platform has the potential to unite finance, strategy and daily operations. Getting the finance team involved in daily operations can make a huge difference in terms of cost-effectiveness and profitability, says Sandvik.
– A lot of exciting things are happening with the finance function all over the world. At Profitbase we have observed an increasingly stronger ambitions and drive around redefining the role of both the CFO and the finance function, says Sandvik. Many finance professionals are finding it limiting to only crunch numbers and send over reports. They are therefore taking action to set themselves up for a key role that can work proactively and closely with the rest of the business to realize business goals and create a culture of continuous improvement.
This mindset has been central to all customers Profitbase has worked with over the years. The idea of thinking bigger about what the finance function should be for the organization has led to many close collaborations in order to overcome obstacles and reposition itself from food center to advisor for insight and strategic guidance.
– Over the years, many sharp minds have challenged and inspired us at Profitbase to think bigger and reach further. Both pioneers who saw digitization opportunities already in the 90s, and the younger forward-thinking forces who are making their mark now in 2024, says Sandvik.
– We are incredibly grateful that our customers have shown us a lot of trust in all these years. They have come to us and given the team challenges to hone their skills in all industries and sectors. From everyday frustrations to serious crises.
Sandvik believes that this has given Profitbase a lot of learning, experience and knowledge which is now channeled into the CFO platform.
– We have done our utmost to ensure that it gives ambitious finance professionals what they need to realize their ambitions to break away from manual number crunching and step into the role of strategic advisors and business partners, he concludes.
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