Budgeting and financial planning are essential for organizations aiming to allocate resources effectively and achieve strategic objectives. While Microsoft Excel has been a longstanding tool in this domain, its prevalent use presents notable challenges. Boardwalk Velocity offers a solution that addresses these issues without disrupting established workflows.

Prevalence of Excel in Financial Planning

Excel's flexibility and accessibility have made it a staple in financial planning and budgeting. A study by WeiserMazars revealed that 87% of CFOs rely on Excel for financial budget planning. (lucanet.com) Similarly, research from BARC indicates that 33% of companies use Excel spreadsheets without an underlying database or specific planning functionality as their principal planning product. (barc.com)

Limitations of Third-Party Point Solutions

To overcome Excel's limitations, some organizations adopt third-party point solutions. However, these come with their own set of challenges:

• Rigid Data Models: Many solutions require adherence to predefined data structures, necessitating significant changes to existing budgeting models and processes.

• High Customization Costs: Tailoring these solutions to specific organizational needs can be time-consuming and expensive, leading to increased total cost of ownership.

• Complex Change Management: Implementing and updating these systems often demands extensive training and change management efforts. Modifications can be costly and time-consuming, sometimes causing users to revert to Excel to meet deadlines.

Boardwalk Velocity: A Seamless Transition

Boardwalk Velocity offers a compelling alternative by transforming existing Excel-based models into secure, collaborative, and scalable enterprise applications without altering the familiar Excel interface. Key benefits include:

• ROI and Benefits: Improve Budgeting accuracy and data integrity to 100% reducing errors and saving millions in the process. Saves millions of dollars by Improving budget analysis by alerting users about critical changes or frequent updates. For example, in an annual and quarterly budget budgeting process with 100 leaders contributing to the review cycle, Boardwalk Velocity saved $500K dollars of executive time.  

• Leveraging Existing Models: Utilizing current Excel data models eliminates the need for extensive reconfiguration, preserving established processes and reducing disruption.  

• Leveraging Existing Models: Utilizing current Excel data models eliminates the need for extensive reconfiguration, preserving established processes and reducing disruption.  

• Eliminate Excel Pain: Velocity eliminates all Excel pain associated with Budgeting such as collaboration, version management, file names, data copy paste, enterprise data copy paste, data entry errors, data integrity issues, emailing of files, consolidation and manual analysis of multiple Excel files.  

• Enhanced Collaboration and Data Integrity: The platform provides automatic data consolidation and real-time updates, ensuring all users work with consistent and accurate information.

• Scalability and Performance: Boardwalk Velocity efficiently manages large datasets, overcoming Excel's performance limitations and supporting organizational growth.

• Cost and Time Efficiency: Implementing Boardwalk Velocity is approximately 15 times faster and more cost-effective than adopting traditional third-party solutions, offering a swift return on investment.

Conclusion

While Excel remains a prevalent tool in budgeting and financial planning, its limitations can hinder organizational efficiency and accuracy. Third-party point solutions, though feature-rich, often introduce new challenges related to rigidity and cost. Boardwalk Velocity offers a balanced approach, transforming existing Excel models into enterprise-grade applications that enhance collaboration, scalability, and data integrity without disrupting established workflows. This solution empowers companies to modernize their financial planning processes effectively, ensuring they remain agile and competitive in a dynamic business environment.