Ease-of-use Budget Planner
While every budget planner will be described by its vendor
as easy to use, it’s important to test those claims. Will the
system be easy to use only by experienced financial managers
and accountants, or will non-financial line managers be able to use it?
Is extensive training necessary? These questions are key, because no matter
how elegant the tool, it’s value is minimal if it’s not used.
A CFO who implements a difficult to use system may trade one headache –
getting managers to submit budget data on time – for another headache –
prodding managers to use the new budget planner. The best budgeting and forecasting
software deliver great value by using natural-language
prompts for data input, so financial expertise is not a prerequisite for
effective use. Given the importance of ease-of-use, live testing of the
system before implementation is very important.
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