{"id":10195,"date":"2019-11-14T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=10195"},"modified":"2023-07-25T05:20:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T09:20:15","slug":"advantage-takeaways-success-with-sage-intacct-budgeting-and-planning-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/advantage-takeaways-success-with-sage-intacct-budgeting-and-planning-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Advantage takeaways: success with Sage Intacct budgeting and planning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStrategy, Legal & Operations<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAdvantage takeaways: success with Sage Intacct budgeting and planning\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tPublished
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Tom\t\t\t\tTom Beno<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At our Advantage conference<\/a> last month, I had the distinct pleasure of moderating a panel with three customers who use Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning<\/a>. They shared their individual journeys from \u2018spreadsheet gymnastics\u2019 budgeting to modern, strategic FP&A practices leveraging our comprehensive, intuitive, seamlessly integrated solution. For folks who missed this session, I\u2019ll capture some of these experts\u2019 fantastic best practices, successes, and business value in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the conference session, I started by asking each customer to tell us how his or her budgeting process evolved in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional services agency alleviates headcount planning headaches<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Natalie Bonczek, controller\u00a0at marketing agency Red Door Interactive, talked about how cumbersome her headcount budgeting process became as the company grew. She said, \u201cIt was just a big mess, with hundreds of tabs across 6-7 different Excel workbooks that we\u2019d route around to all the department managers to update their budget requests. Scenario planning was a big time-suck, and budgets weren\u2019t approved until weeks after a new period started.\u201d Bonczek was about to select another platform when she heard about Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning, and joined the beta without hesitation. She was up-and-running after three consulting sessions, with her entire budget structure mapped effortlessly to Red Door\u2019s general ledger accounts. Bonczek described how the ability to run \u2018what if\u2019 scenarios on-the-fly during executive planning meetings has been a lifesaver, especially given the inevitable client and employee turnover of the professional services industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family-owned investment firm tackles budget complexity across entities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over at Halstatt, senior accountant Amanda Goebel was faced with managing budgets for an extremely complicated, multi-entity organization with very diverse investments and operating businesses. Rather than evaluate other systems, her first thought was to check if Sage Intacct could help. After demoing our product, she signed on immediately. Goebel remembers, \u201cThis implementation was the smoothest of any software we’ve adopted, and our implementation specialist was amazing. Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning helped us eliminate several budget workbooks with 25 different tabs. It’s a humongous time savings, since we no longer have to deal with broken links, or version 800, or going back and forth over email.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology business manages hyper-growth with continuous analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Chaoran Wang started out as the first\u00a0FP&A manager at network management software company\u00a0Auvik<\/a>, his CFO already had our budgeting solution in place (called Budgeta at the time). Wang was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to use, without the kind of formal training Hyperion required during his previous role. As the owner of all company budgets, Wang uses Sage Intacct\u2019s budgeting and planning tool to collaborate with various departments while maintaining control over the company\u2019s rolling plan. Features like codeless headcount modeling, easy scenario comparisons, and approval workflows help Wang strategically plan for Auvik\u2019s rapid scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning in action<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After hearing about these three experiences, our audience took over and asked the panelists many great questions. Here are some key lessons and insights we gleaned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n