B3: “Cumulus BI has helped us to minimize the risk of errors.”
Most companies manage budgets, forecasts and follow-up using large and complex Excel documents. One of these companies was the consulting company B3, which found challenges in terms of lack of overview and poor version management in Excel. To create a more streamlined process, B3 chose Binovi’s Cumulus BI service.
– Cumulus BI has helped us to minimize the risk of errors. Even though we have had a common Excel file, we have had lack of control. Maybe the colleague has been working in his own version and then just pasted into our template. Now everyone has the same tool, it works the same for everyone,” says Maria Gustafsson, Business Controller at B3.
Binovi has developed the Cumulus BI service, a web-based service that supports companies with budgeting, forecasting and monitoring. The service requires no installation and can easily be customized and adjusted to different businesses.
– Cumulus BI is easy to use, it is easy to change and you can set up the structure yourself. If we want to add account names, we easily do it ourselves, so I would definitely recommend the service to other companies, says Maria Gustafsson.
Time-saving tools
Maria Gustafsson further explains how the main benefit B3 has experienced with Cumulus BI is the time the tool saves the company in terms of budgeting and forecasting.
– Instead of consolidating a lot of companies in Excel for different instances, we can now choose which companies we want to view. It has been a super boost for us controllers and our group management to easily get totals and follow during a budget or forecast process how the companies are doing. When they worked in Excel, you didn’t have that overview, Maria Gustafsson explains.
CEO reports
B3 is a group containing several companies. Apart from budgeting and forecasting, the company’s CEOs use Cumulus BI to create simple CEO reports, which is much appreciated by the employees.
– Our CEOs have been super happy with this CEO reports. Previously it was done in Excel and then they had to cut and paste themselves to add things and now they only need to comment on deviations and what is happening and what is going on. They are very happy with that, Maria Gustafsson concludes.
What Our Customers Are Saying
Cumulus BI has helped us create greater flexibility. It has facilitated the management of currency and made it easier for each unit to get an overall sense of the budget early in the process.
We got a lot of support so it went smooth. They have helped to adapt the service to our needs and requirements. And they are very helpful at short notice. It can even be a completely new development that they solve on the same day.
Cumulus BI is more flexible than sending lots of Excel files back and forth and keeping track of who made what changes. Now it is easy for me to check what has been changed.