Leveraging Aleph to "revolutionize" how AllCloud does FP&A
About AllCloud
AllCloud is a global cloud services provider specializing in cloud enablement and transformation. With a portfolio of thousands of successful cloud deployments, AllCloud supports clients across the globe in harnessing the power of cloud technology, data, and AI.
Being data-driven and data-focused is in AllCloud’s DNA, and they have a network of employees and partners that work to help make their customer’s data actionable. So when the time came to tackle their own financial data and reporting project, the bar was extremely high.
Reflecting on the first time Ryan Freudenburg, Director of FP&A at AllCloud, saw Aleph, he said, “This is what I’ve always wanted.”
“If anyone could build a custom solution, it would be our team. But Aleph quickly gave us the platform we wanted without pulling data scientists and engineers from other projects. Aleph has already done the hard work for us, and it works great.”
Keep reading to learn what initially caught Ryan’s attention and how Aleph stands out from other FP&A tools.
The Challenges:
- Cleaning and consolidating data across their ERP (NetSuite), HRIS (BambooHR), and CRM (Salesforce) was a manual, labor-intensive process
- Being reliant on fragile Excel files that could—and would—break when new data was introduced
- Having intricate utilization forecasting and reporting needs that were a “total nightmare” to pull every week
- Needing to generate multiple P&Ls and financial reporting views every month with adjustments that were “pretty much impossible to do solely using an ERP”
The Solution & Results:
- Leveraged Aleph to consolidate and map all of their ERP, HRIS, CRM, and other cross-system data sources to speak the same language
- Gave Excel power users the ability to keep using the tool they know and love without all the manual, error-prone baggage that caused headaches
- Automated their weekly utilization reporting, giving them more confidence and visibility into their mission-critical metrics
- Built a centralized logic layer for allocations and adjustments, generating different views of their financial statements with the click of a button
“Aleph has given me the output of at least one full-time hire, allowing me to defer additional hiring on the FP&A team and investing those resources into other areas of the business”
Mapping cross-system data to speak the same language
Before implementing Aleph, Ryan’s biggest challenge was a topic that almost every FP&A professional battles—fighting with cross-system data that doesn't speak the same language.
“It's just so simple to map data, and it has such a high impact, said Ryan. “When I first got started with Aleph, I spent less than an hour mapping our entire data ecosystem, and it has totally revolutionized the way that we do FP&A at AllCloud.”
Automating mission-critical metrics
Professional service businesses like AllCloud rely on a number of resource utilization planning and performance KPIs to keep their business on track. Unlike monthly financial statements, these metrics need to be monitored weekly.
Generating these reports with precision requires detailed data across multiple systems, such as available hours from BambooHR, billable hours from Jira, revenue per hour from Salesforce, and many more data points that go into their calculations.
“Trying to manage this in a spreadsheet manually was a total nightmare,” said Ryan, “I know because I did it for a while.”
After switching to Aleph, Ryan was able to automate their weekly business review reports, pulling consolidated data directly into spreadsheets with the click of a button using Aleph’s Excel add-in.
Generating financial statements beyond the capabilities of ERPs
Like most modern businesses, AllCloud’s ERP is—by design—a rigid system of record, while their financial reporting needs require much more flexibility. Simply exporting their P&L from NetSuite yielded a product that was far from finished.
Now, all of AllCloud’s financial statements run through Aleph, applying a centralized logic layer to NetSuite data that automatically generates ready-to-use views for different stakeholders and business units.
“With Aleph, we're able to just take the raw NetSuite data and apply different allocations like what region, practice, or expense an income should be used in different financial statements. If we want to layer in EBITDA or management adjustments, we can do that too, which is pretty much impossible if you're solely using an ERP.”
What the future holds
AllCloud has recently started expanding the use of Aleph outside of FP&A, leveraging checks with the accounting team to identify and fix data discrepancies as they arise.
Simple checks, such as ensuring every transaction has a department, help to speed up the month-end close process while eliminating issues that may have flown under the radar.
Ryan is also in the process of building executive dashboards using Aleph’s new dashboarding tools, leveraging the same consolidated data layer that powers AllCloud’s spreadsheet-based reports—but in a much easier-to-access, easier-to-digest format for key stakeholders.
“When my CEO wants to see where our forecast is this month, what the trailing 12 months were, or any revenue question, he’ll soon be able to pull up his dashboard instead of digging through spreadsheets.”
Data-obsessed customers like AllCloud are a dream to work with. We’re excited to keep pushing the limits with their team to uncover and unlock additional efficiencies within their processes.
To learn more about AllCloud, visit allcloud.io.
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