– Imagine how much better everyday life could be for many people!” says Jo-Inge Østrem.
– We have much more time, much better control. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it will save us six weeks of work – and that’s just where we are now!
– Yes, it has given us a real boost, confirms CFO Astrid Weltzin with a nod.
Kraft Finans’ dynamic finance duo reflects on the journey they’ve been on since transitioning from cumbersome ERP and spreadsheets to the CFO platform’s solutions for reporting, budgeting, and forecasting.
After the implementation in November 2023, they concluded after just a few months that they have a new everyday reality and have cut weeks of tedious spreadsheet work.
Two people and the search for efficient software
Kraft Finans is an investment firm with a management capital of 7.3 billion kroner. The company provides advisory services, where they invest money in funds, equity funds, or bond funds on behalf of clients. Additionally, they manage their own bond funds, syndicate real estate on behalf of clients, and raise capital for real estate that goes into so-called AIF funds.
-We’re just two people who make up the entire finance department, says Jo-Inge.
-We do everything, really. Astrid is the CFO, and my role covers finance from A to Z, he laughs heartily.
Being only two has made Jo-Inge and Astrid focus on finding ways to work more efficiently. One of the first things they tackled when Jo-Inge came on board was to replace the accounting system in an attempt to streamline financial reporting.
-At that time, we had to run reports from the ERP system and then export them to spreadsheets, Jo-Inge explains.
-By switching the accounting system, we thought those days were over.
But it turned out that the reporting module in the new ERP system was also cumbersome and time-consuming.
-The report setup didn’t spit out all 34 reports. We had to extract one report at a time. That was the day, laughs Jo-Inge. He further points out that they could only extract the reports on one dimension.
-It wasn’t ideal because we have many dimensions and want to drill down to the lowest level. But that wasn’t possible, so we started looking for solutions. That’s when we discovered Profitbase.
Away from paper chaos, large desks, and lots of highlighters
-I really liked what I saw. It had a lot of good things going for it. We were primarily looking for a reporting tool but quickly became interested in the budgeting and forecasting tool as well. Considering we have so many profit centers, creating a budget in spreadsheets is a big risk, he says, elaborating passionately:
-It’s like… these 34 income statements here. He laughs and gestures with his hands.
-In spreadsheets, there are lots of formulas you have to create, and they have to be exactly the same for all 34 sheets. You have to be very precise to avoid updating one place and not another. Typically, you lay out all the sheets. You need a big, big desk, to put it that way, he says, gesturing demonstratively along the desk.
-Now we don’t have to extract 34 reports. It becomes efficient updating and available reports all the time, he says, thinking out loud:
-What I really liked was that Profitbase had connected the reporting structure with the Power BI user interface, so you can use financial reporting as the gateway for total business reporting. Then everyone has one interface to relate to instead of one reporting tool for finance and another for other business data. You know, people don’t like having many tools to relate to. His mouth breaks into a big smile again. By having the CFO platform at the base, data management became seamless and ran smoothly.
From pain points to looking forward to the future
Engaged, Jo-Inge shares even more reflections on his new everyday life.
-With the Power BI solution, it’s just a matter of changing the period, and people have the link to their report. We no longer have to extract it into spreadsheets and make it look nice before sending it out. What used to take a day now goes super fast, and people can even follow along as we close. Revenues typically come in first, so they get that right away. We avoid them coming to us asking how things are going. They can go in and see for themselves as the period closing process progresses.
Jo-Inge has to catch his breath before continuing about the budgeting work. Again, he brings up the time aspect:
-We probably spent two to three weeks creating the budget, and that was just version 1.0. It’s difficult in spreadsheets because there are many spreadsheets that are linked together. When someone wants a different version or changes, it was very cumbersome. In Profitbase’s solution, it’s very easy – both to copy and create a new version. And not least… the biggest advantage is that we can do more detailed updates to the budget as the year progresses and always have a forward-looking view. We want an updated forecast for the year – it’s more interesting to look forward than backward. Adjusting the known things that have changed will go very quickly instead of spinning around in a crazy spreadsheet model.
After talking enthusiastically, he leans back in his chair and gives one last reflection:
-I see a very bright future with this tool!
