Episode 26: Trusting the AI Forecast in Finance

Guest: Allen Hudson

Many companies are looking for a way to transcend the limitations of Excel for financial and operational planning, reporting and analysis. They need something that will enable them to securely centralize their data and models (so that both numbers and calculations are managed in just one place), collaborate easily, all while still retaining the flexibility to adjust in response to changing business conditions and organizational structures.

Moving away from Excel to a planning software platform is just the first step, but it is an important one. The obvious benefit is that it releases analysts from the drudgery of manipulating data in Excel spreadsheets, and the stress of worrying whether all the reports are correct. They can use their new-found freedom to do more analysis and thinking about the data, and to find ways to add real value to the business. Examples range from understanding the cost structure (and finding savings), to examining sales performance (and driving revenue).

A possible next step, and one that more and more QueBIT customers are interested in, is how to deploy Predictive and Artificial Intelligence technologies to their advantage. In this week’s episode we share the story of a customer we worked with recently to incorporate a computer-generated predictive forecast into their planning processes. Just as the first step reduced drudgery for the analysts responsible for managing and consolidating the planning process, this step can eliminate drudgery for those responsible for doing the forecast, and enable them to focus their attention on areas of strategic and competitive importance to the business!