The situation in the world, caused by the coronavirus pandemic nearly two years ago, has left its mark on business. Organizations have had to develop new models of processes, based on flexibility and anticipation of different scenarios. In the new reality, planning, budgeting and forecasting processes are becoming critical, allowing the company to better prepare and adapt to ever-changing business conditions and to identify processes, models and technologies whose productivity was in doubt even before 2020. Currently, according to the aforementioned Deloitte survey, 61% of respondents are changing or intending to introduce changes in their companies’ operating model. 29% plan to invest in tools and techniques. Not much less, because 27% like to prepare analyzes and forecasts more often, 26% modify the business planning approach itself, and 21% expect a shortening or extension of their forecast time horizon. Respondents did not often mention a desire to invest in predictive planning tools (12%) or changes within the resource for analytics and plans in terms of budget (10%). 39% remained in the opposition. Respondents who do not plan any changes to the way they work yet.

Most financial managers and managers of financial planning and analysis (FP&A) focus first on developing scenarios and then analyzing the impact of their implementation on the company. For this group, the primary value is the quality of the source data, which is compared with the data available in the company in order to be able to formulate the most practical conclusions based on a wide range of available information. They plan to bring changes fundamentally into the business process and by investing in tools and technologies,” says Robert Novak, Partner in Tax Advisory, Business Tax Team Leader, and Chief Financial Officer Program for Deloitte.

Advertisements regarding the digitization of gadgets and investments in technology do not go hand in hand with reality. According to the study, during planning, budgeting and forecasting, the Excel spreadsheet is still the main business tool for 73% of surveyed managers and those responsible for the finances of the organization. “Typically, developing management information and drawing conclusions has been the equivalent of a time-consuming and cumbersome manual process. However, with the increasing amounts of internal and external data, organizations are starting to look for tools to support their decision making process faster. Therefore, we are seeing a downward trend in the use of Excel sheets , explains Wojciech Zawada, partner in the audit and insurance division, Deloitte.