With many finance planning and analysis software packages, finding an ideal one for your business can be challenging. Besides, while there is no "best" FP&A tool, there certainly is the best suit tool that aligns with your goals, preferences, and needs. And with the significant benefits of financial planning, assessing risks and opportunities, and mitigating breakdowns, ignoring the integral role of FP&A systems can be unwise.  
But what essential element should you consider in an FP&A tool to achieve exceptional results? Yes, technology infrastructure and cost are factors to consider, but for good results, you must consider personal factors. The factors unique to your organization, especially the finance and analysis department. So if you're still worried about what to consider in an FP&A solution, get started with these five tips.

1. Define Your Requirements

 

 
You're reading this post because you are certain that there are many FP&A systems, but not all match your needs. Typically, even though FP&A tools perform the same basic functions, you certainly have specific goals you'd want the tool to assist. FP&A software that can't meet your business objectives is not worth it.  
While most principles revolve around profit loss, cash flow, and revenue, it's vital to consider your business's entirety and scope. Look for collaborative and workflow features that aid decision-making and collaboration by many users in a cloud system. Also, consider a tool that allows live integration, enabling your company to access any current data. Ultimately, this will ensure you can make decisions in real-time, translating to more accurate and well-rounded results. Plus, the system will automate your processes, improving workflows and accelerating activities while mitigating error risks and boosting data consistency.  
Generally, it's best to adopt a cloud-based FP&A software even as you define your objectives to gain the benefits of remote accessibility and unlimited scalability. 

2. Ease of Use

One of the most significant factors to check in financial planning and analysis software is its ease of use. The software can be very powerful and effective, but if it's difficult to use, it's impossible to attain substantial results. But this doesn't nullify the essence of training and educating your team regarding the tool, even when the software is easy to operate. 

 
However, the training aspect shouldn't be complex, prohibiting many users from coming on board. And if users stay away from the tools, you're certainly going to retard the growth of your operations and ultimately take long or, at worst, fail to achieve your goals. 

 
For this reason, ensuring that any permitted user can operate the FP&A tool you opt for is vital and typically brings the intended results. In the long run, this will help you save more since you `won't have to hire an IT or Financial professional since your teammates can also deliver. 

 
So, as you choose an effective FP&A tool, prioritize the ease of use feature in your checklist. This way, you can see your tools' value and reach your goals faster. 

3. Integration Capabilities

For many people, bringing in an FP&A system means disposing of the existing software and finding new ones that can integrate with the FP&A. However, if you're a business person, you want to make more tangible profit while upgrading. In other words, you have to minimize the cost of inputs to realize better bucks. 

 
As such, even as you incorporate an FP&A system in your operations, ensuring it aligns with the existing systems is crucial. Be it customer relationship management CRM or enterprise resource planning ERP, seamless connectivity that streamlines your efficiency and workflows shouldn't be compromised. The accuracy and speed levels you've always used in your operations should be positively affected only. 

 
While integration capability is a key tip, you should also ensure that the system you use will remain significant in the future and can evolve with the business. So, consider the ability to accommodate future changes and integrations, too. This way, you can rest assured there will be no major constraints in the future.

4. Data Analytics

From enhancing better customer interaction, improving customer targets, reducing costs, creating better problem-solving strategies, and ultimately improving sales, the need for data analysis is vital in a company. That's why any tool you incorporate in your systems should fully or partially aim at improving analytics, and it's no exemption to FP&A.  

A good FP&A system should provide flexible ways that users can create and forecast budgets and assess risk factors more effectively. 

 
More importantly, the solution should be able to perform multiple types of analytics for many companies. 

Typically, an FP&A tool that provides exceptional results in a manufacturing industry should be able to provide the same competitive results in a logistics company. Furthermore, the solution should be versatile enough to accommodate different techniques of budgeting, presenting metrics, and forecasting without embarrassment. Most advanced FP&A tools also provide flexibility for monitoring key performance indicators. 

5. Time to Implement

 
Last on the list is the implementation timeline that an ideal system can take. Firstly, the best FP&A tool should be able to implement processes within your required timeframe. Nonetheless, this also depends on the size of projects to undertake, the package you're using, and the size of your company. Typically, a project can take months and years, depending on the project's complexity and the business's exact size. 

 
Still, assessing whether the tool will swiftly integrate with the current systems is key to better recognizing implementation timelines. If a particular tool takes a long to integrate with the available ecosystem, you may experience cost blowouts. It can also necessitate more staff resources, taking more time from your finance teams and IT experts. 

 

Ultimately, to avoid such challenges and reduce the time for implementation, consider a cloud-based FP&A software if you run a small to medium-sized business. In addition, opt for a large-scale FP&A system if yours is a large business. This way, you'll be able to reduce the implementation timeline and up your bottom line. 

Conclusion 

There are many factors to consider before settling on an ideal FP&A tool. And as seen above, every aspect is as significant as the other to achieve the intended results. While choosing an ideal software can be overwhelming, realizing its potential benefits cannot let you ignore and forego. 

 
Their usefulness is as strong as your cloud-based and automation solutions. 

They're vital in positioning your business more competitively and significantly, even in the ever-digitalizing business world. Don't forget to research before working with a given FP&A system; this way, you'll maximize your potential.