How PENAW leverages Francis to move into strategic advisory

Problem

The aim at PENAW is to create the outsourced finance function of the future. Initially, the team relied on Excel. However, it quickly proved inadequate for supporting their diverse and rapidly-expanding client base. PENAW's clients ranged from small startups to conglomerates, each posing unique challenges.

Relying on traditional spreadsheets presented three challenges:

Low-value activities: A major challenge in Excel was the manual process of updating, transforming, and validating client data monthly. As PENAW’s client base expanded, this process not only increased the workload but also significantly increased the likelihood of errors, making financial management an exhaustive and less reliable task.

Excel’s breadth of capabilities often introduces a higher risk of errors, especially as the complexity of tasks increases. This is a key consideration in our decision to seek more streamlined and reliable solutions.

Excel paralysis: While Excel is an incredibly versatile tool, its resource drain became clear as PENAW’s operations grew. Oliver found that tailoring Excel to meet specific needs became increasingly time-consuming and prone to errors as PENAW started incorporating more complexity into their models. This complexity increased risks in financial reporting, a critical concern for PENAW, emphasizing accurate and reliable insights.

While Excel offers versatility, achieving the same level of aesthetics and functionality as in specialized software demands extensive effort and time.

Advanced services: As PENAW continued to grow, the need to transition from classic bookkeeping services to more sophisticated financial analysis became clear. This shift was critical for providing better strategic input for clients of all sizes. However, scaling these services in Excel proved challenging, as updating models to accommodate PENAW’s growing suite of offerings was cumbersome and prone to human error.‍

The above challenges highlighted the need for a more efficient and scalable solution, leading PENAW to partner with Francis, which promised to address these complexities and streamline their processes.

Solution

Faced with Excel paralysis, PENAW partnered with Francis to transition from low-value activities to high-value analyses.Francis's platform enabled a smooth expansion from bookkeeping to FP&A services, suitable for a wide range of client sizes.

Customized templates: The ability to create templates that PENAW can quickly deploy for new clients allowed them to onboard new clients quickly. At the same time, the templates can easily be altered to meet each client’s specific needs.This reduced the time and effort involved in creating client’s financial models, decreasing the likelihood of errors.

With Francis, we're able to onboard clients rapidly, offering them the option to be fully operational almost immediately, a particularly valuable feature for our smaller clients.

Forecasting and variance analyses: Francis facilitated a move beyond traditional recording of data to a more strategic, forward-looking approach. This allowed PENAW to provide better strategic input and advice to their clients.

Native integrations: Francis automated the processes of importing, updating, and validating financial data. This enhancement not only reduced the manual workload but also minimized errors, leading to more reliable financial management.

The difference between Excel and Francis is stark, especially in terms of updating data. Francis enables us to swiftly analyze, correct, and update financial reports, greatly enhancing efficiency and reducing the likelihood of errors

Relying on Francis provided a robust solution to the challenges presented by general-purpose spreadsheets. It enabled PENAW to improve their service quality and offer accurate, strategic financial insights.

Onboarding

Oliver Bottelet notes that integrating Francis as part of the PENAW offering was easy, requiring minimal effort from the PENAW team to get started.

Starting with Francis was straightforward. We were operational in less than a day!

The subsequent client onboarding process has been smooth. With the 14-day free trial offered by Francis, PENAW proactively develops Proof of Concept (POC) financial models for clients on Francis. This effort is aimed at encouraging potential clients, particularly those still using Excel or Sheets, to switch to the Francis platform.

We showcase the capabilities of Francis to our clients, including budgeting and reporting. The setup is quick, under a day. We’re working on streamlining the client onboarding further by creating a set of custom templates. This should allow us to reduce the onboarding time for new clients to just a few hours.

PENAW's use of the built-in template functionality allows them to integrate learnings from past client experiences, enabling faster onboarding of new customers and even quicker delivery of value.

Results

Avoid mistakes: With Francis, PENAW ensures that their clients' financial models are always synced with their ERP. Actuals are automatically imported and bookkeeping mistakes are more easily spotted. Additionally, PENAW receives alerts for any changes in a client’s ERP, ensuring continuous alignment across systems.

The risk of errors in Excel is simply too big. We've had employees tracking errors for hours on end - this is not the case in Francis.

From low-value to high-value activities: Francis serves as a gateway for PENAW to expand their services. Beyond bookkeeping, the platform serves as a conversation starter for budgeting and forecasting services. Leveraging the 14-day free trial, PENAW can introduce additional CFO services to both existing and prospective clients at minimal initial cost.

We often start with the bookkeeping, but with the free trial, we can show the customer what's possible in Francis. Once they've seen it, they want more.‍

‍Standardization: Francis replaces the need for separate Excel files for each client. With a unified platform, PENAW efficiently manages all client data, reusing and refining templates based on ongoing learning and feedback. Additionally, this standardization significantly speeds up the onboarding process for new clients.‍

Enhanced client engagement: Francis allows PENAW to invite clients as viewers, restricting their access as needed. This approach not only increases client engagement with their operations but also tends to heighten their interest in gaining deeper insights and requesting additional services.

Differentiated offering: The capabilities provided by Francis enables differentiated value compared to consultancies still relying on Excel or Sheets. By adopting Francis, PENAW can offer a broader range of services at a lower cost, enhancing their ability to scale efficiently without the need for additional staff.

Previously, for smaller clients, we would simply export their trial balance from their ERP. With Francis, we can do more for our clients, no matter their size.