From Spreadsheets to Smart Insights | Ep. 2

Olivia

Alright, welcome back to another episode of FP&A Done Right! I'm Olivia, joined—as always—by Ryan. Today we’re getting a bit personal with our finance frustrations, aren’t we Ryan?

Ryan

Oh yeah, this is right up my alley. I mean, if I had a dollar for every hour I wasted juggling spreadsheets… well, maybe I could finally stop color-coding my grocery lists. But, kidding aside, traditional planning is just so static, isn’t it? Spreadsheets, manual entry, and all that back-and-forth—it slows everyone down.

Olivia

Absolutely! And it’s not just about slow processes. It’s the errors. I still wince thinking about that model I messed up because I forgot to drag a formula across a new column. One harmless-looking cell and—boom—suddenly, my whole budget was off. I triple-check everything now, no matter how basic.

Ryan

Oh, you’re not alone. It’s funny—last week, I was talking with a client who said, “The way we do financial planning and reporting today is like night and day compared to before.” Before what? Before they ditched Excel for something, you know, less dangerous. I think, for a lot of teams, the problem is that these static, backward-looking processes just can’t keep up with business anymore.

Olivia

And the business isn’t standing still, right? Market shifts, unpredictable supply chains, new competitors—by the time you’ve finished the quarterly plan, it’s already out of date. If your only weapon is a spreadsheet, you’re fighting yesterday’s battles instead of tomorrow’s.

Ryan

Totally. And then you’ve got data silos making it even worse. Everyone’s got their own version; sales, HR, operations—they’re all working in isolation. I’ve seen companies where it’s like, “Wait, you thought we were hiring ten people? I thought it was five.” It’s chaos. That slows down decision-making, and the opportunity cost is massive.

Olivia

Completely. And it’s not just lost opportunities—it’s error risk, wasted time. I think the FP&A Trends survey really nails it: two-thirds of finance time is spent on low-value tasks, like gathering and validating data, and only one-third on actual insight and decisions. That’s just…deflating, isn’t it?

Ryan

It really is. You almost become the bottleneck in your own process. All those manual handoffs and endless email chains, just waiting for everyone’s different versions to come back—if they come back at all. You ever wait on a template that’s been sitting in someone's inbox for days? That’s real pain.

Olivia

Honestly, yes! It’s the classic “hurry up and wait.” All that time wasted—so, is it any wonder finance feels stuck in an endless loop, never really getting to the stuff that matters?

Ryan

Exactly. And disruption just makes it worse. Whether it’s a pandemic, a merger, or a sudden drop in sales, the old annual planning mindset simply can’t keep pace. It’s time for a change—something continuous, connected, and way more flexible.

Olivia

So let’s talk about what’s possible now. Building on what we talked about in our last episode with Adaptive Planning—modern cloud platforms are absolutely changing the game. Instead of updating the same dusty spreadsheet, you get rolling forecasts, scenario modeling, and real-time collaboration. It’s like…going from a paper atlas to Google Maps.

Ryan

That’s a great analogy, Olivia. I mean, think about what LEARN Behavioral did. They embraced a cloud-based system, centralized all their data, and—get this—slashed their budgeting and forecasting turnaround times. Managers could finally get live dashboards, no more waiting for finance to send reports. It makes them more nimble, especially when you’re running multiple locations and need to adapt on the fly.

Olivia

Exactly. And the integration side is massive too. When you’ve got finance, payroll, billing—all under one roof—you can finally trust your numbers. Data silos disappear, and instead of reconciling different versions, everyone’s looking at the same source of truth. That changes the whole conversation.

Ryan

And cycle times? Up to 70% faster, according to some implementations. Plus, rolling forecasts mean you’re always planning based on what’s happening now, not just last quarter. So, finance moves from just controlling the purse strings to being a real strategic advisor. You’re right in the thick of it, helping set direction, not just counting the beans after they’re spilled.

Olivia

Yes, and I love that shift—from finance as gatekeeper to finance as partner and challenger. With all these self-service tools, business users can drill into their own numbers, run what-if scenarios, and understand what’s driving their performance. Finance supports, asks the tough questions, but no longer has to do all the handholding.

Olivia

So here’s where things really get interesting: enter agile, automation, and AI. Finance is undergoing this massive transformation, automating routine work and freeing up teams for analysis and decision-making. I remember early in my career—I was pretty intimidated by analytics. Total imposter syndrome every time the board asked, “why’s this variance here?” But once I leaned into the data side, I found my confidence grew. Analytics and automation didn’t replace me; they actually made me better at my job.

Ryan

Oh, that’s spot on, Olivia. And, you know, people always talk about robots stealing jobs. But honestly, automation in finance is about augmenting the team, not shrinking it. Take things like account reconciliations, invoice processing, and even forecasting—previously all manual, repetitive stuff. Now, with machine learning, those parts run themselves. That frees finance folks to tackle the fun stuff—scenario planning, partnering with the business, digging into new opportunities.

Olivia

And with the profession facing a talent crunch—so many CPAs retiring, fewer graduates—automation’s becoming essential just to get the basics done. Otherwise, you spend all your time chasing down errors and can’t actually advise anyone. The beauty of AI is that it learns from historical data, spots anomalies instantly, and helps you course-correct sooner.

Ryan

Totally. It’s predictive. Like in fantasy football—yeah, here comes my sports analogy again—but you wouldn’t just pick players based on last season. You look at projections, injuries, weather, then run new scenarios every week. Finance is moving the same way: predictive insights instead of static reports. With AI, your forecast isn’t just “the best guess”—it’s continuously learning and improving, as long as you’re feeding it quality data.

Olivia

Right, and honestly, the new skill set for finance is less about memorizing formulas and more about interpreting data, telling the story, weighing scenarios. The technical know-how matters, but so does being curious and able to translate insights for the business. AI isn’t about skipping human judgement—it’s about supporting it and letting you focus on what really matters.