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As vitally important as it is, financial forecasting for most construction companies today is a painful, time-consuming, and labor-intensive process. (And, of course, sometimes contractual obligation.)
What’s worse is that by the time a forecast report is out the door, it’s already likely out of date. According to global management consultancy McKinsey & Company, some 40 percent of CFOs admit to financial forecasts that aren’t particularly accurate.
In an industry where the cash crunch is so very real, how can this be allowed to continue? Well, obviously it can’t. But construction companies need to step up their forecasting game to improve the accuracy of their forecasts, deliver clarity around cash flow, and provide the information needed to make critical decisions related to it.
The answer (which you may have guessed by the title of this blog): automation.
An automation platform like Briq draws the information necessary to build a cash flow forecast from the various disparate systems across the company. It eliminates the manual processes involved in information collection, promotes collaboration between departments and, for those involved, takes away the tedium of creating the reports.
But more importantly, automation improves both the process of forecasting and its reliability and accuracy. Because it simplifies the creation of forecasting reports, it makes it possible to create them more frequently. Instead of annual forecasts, construction companies can implement quarterly forecasts — or rolling monthly forecasts.
Just think about that for a second. Instead of once a year having a sense of what’s going on with the company’s cash flow, having such knowledge on a continuous, ongoing basis? Game-changing.
The construction industry is dynamic, with more variables than almost any other sector. It’s one that can literally change with the weather. How can you make the decisions needed to stay ahead of the competition on information gleaned once a year? For forward-thinking construction companies, a rolling forecast is the way to go, and a financial automation platform is the only way to deliver that.
The time to focus on what matters
The benefits of automation don’t stop with the timeliness and accuracy of forecasting either. Because Briq, for example, pulls the information needed, construction finance professionals don’t have to spend their time endlessly hunting for data. That time can be spent where it can drive results, on analyzing the data they now have at their fingertips to provide decision-makers with the vital insights they need to make the company more profitable.
What’s more, it makes the finance team members feel more valuable — because they are — all while eliminating human error, further increasing the accuracy and the reliability of forecasts.
For automation to be effective in improving forecasting, it must integrate across and break down organizational silos. Briq does that by integrating with existing systems to give construction companies real-time forecasting capabilities and more complete visibility into their business.
By taking advantage of automation in forecasting, construction business leaders have the critical information they need to make better decisions. They can augment the experience and intuition they’ve honed over decades with hard facts around how they are truly performing and what resources they have available to perform even better.
Automation takes the job of forecasting from a painful requirement for operations to a profound instrument for success.
Want to learn how Briq and automation can improve the accuracy and dependability of your forecasts? Check out our latest eBook.
Or, to directly find out more about how Briq can improve all your reporting processes, visit briq.com/demo and ask our experts for a demo.
