As we approach the end of the year, many of you are likely immersed in planning for the upcoming fiscal year. This process can be particularly challenging for teams of any size, but especially those with multiple stakeholders. Our recent client survey revealed that the approval process is the most frustrating aspect of financial planning, with approval rounds often seeming endless.
Let's dive into the common challenges in the approval process and explore effective solutions:
- Scheduling Bottlenecks: Extended waiting periods for meetings or available time slots
- Budget Interdependence: Your plans often hinge on decisions made by other teams
- Time-Intensive Communication: Financial analysts frequently find themselves working outside regular hours
- Information Loss: Critical rationale behind figures often exists only in someone's memory
- Digitize with Task Trackers: Implement an automated approval queue. For instance, Asana offers customizable workflows where adding an expense item automatically triggers an approval request. This streamlines the process and provides clear visibility into the approval status.
- Establish Clear Policies: Create comprehensive, agreed-upon documents. For numerous or complex policies, leverage AI to analyze and verify expense alignment. Our Octopus AI excels at this - simply upload your policy documents, and it will generate tailored budget calculation formulas for each expense category.
- Centralize Communication: Store approval comments alongside figures. Utilize collaborative platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams, integrating them with your task tracker to keep all relevant discussions and decisions in one accessible location.
- Leverage Predictive Analytics: Octopus AI goes beyond basic automation. It analyzes historical data and current market trends to provide intelligent budget forecasts, helping teams make more informed decisions and potentially reducing the number of approval rounds needed.
Traditional tools like Excel are becoming challenging in the face of a more chaotic environment. Octopus AI stands out as a comprehensive solution that not only addresses the common pain points but also provides advanced features like AI-driven policy compliance checks and predictive budgeting.
Ready to revolutionize your financial planning process? Book a demo with Octopus AI today and experience firsthand how our intelligent platform can transform your approval workflows, saving time and reducing frustration across your entire team.
