Cloud applications have been a revelation for organisations, but they have also created a problem. Data has become siloed to those applications and is not being shared across the organisation.

In a 2024 CA ANZ technology survey, 43% of accountants listed data silos as a major concern. Having one platform for all data is an appealing solution, yet only 7% of those surveyed said they had one.

Phocas executive director Phil Dodds bets those 7% have not second-guessed their decision.

“Once you make the leap to an all-in-one data platform, you never go back,” he says.

“It saves you a huge amount of time, gives you a really clear understanding of your business, and it helps you collaborate with the rest of the organisation, which is what the modern CFO really needs to do.”

A one-platform solution

Phocas helps finance teams to extract, validate and automate data from ERPs, cloud apps and databases across an organisation – up to 200 sources – and customise a one-platform solution that can be accessed by everyone across the business.

“CFOs no longer need to dive into systems or spreadsheets,” says Dodds. “You can have all the data at your fingertips and use it for budgeting and forecasting, and business planning.”

Demand planning and cash forecasting were listed as the top two challenges in the CA ANZ survey. Dodds says with Phocas’s BI and FP&A platform – which has a 98% retention rate –commercial drivers can be established by an organisation to inform demand planning, and cashflow forecasts can be made and updated daily with ease.

“You build up drivers by looking at your consolidated data. The data not only helps you forecast the future, it helps you to look at where you are in terms of benchmarks on any given day,” he says.

Powering the finance function

Another benefit of having a single data platform is the ability to layer AI software on top of it.

Dodds says the organisations who already have their data in order are leveraging Open AI software, similar to ChatGPT, to speed up data interrogations and answers.

“But you need to get your data organised first and then you can take advantage of AI solutions,” he says.

Compared with ERP software and using multiple different systems, an all-in-one platform like Phocas superpowers a finance manager’s budgeting, forecasting and reporting abilities, and it does not require a big commitment.

“You’ve got no hardware requirements and if you don’t like it, switch it off. It’s not like changing ERPs, which is a massive task and likely to take time and loads of resources,” says Dodds.

“A single BI and FP&A platform is probably the easiest thing to do in terms of cost and benefit, but it takes people so long to make the decision because they don’t know where to start. The best thing to do is simply start. It’s fast to evolve.”

Find out more:

To learn how Phocas’s business intelligence and financial planning and analysis (BI and FP&A) platform can transform your business, visit phocassoftware.com/ca