Legacy vs Modern EPM: Which One Is Slowing Your Business Down?

This episode explores the growing divide between legacy and modern EPM systems, focusing on why businesses are reevaluating their current tools. It highlights how shifts in speed, data visibility, and the need for a single source of truth are pushing organizations toward more dynamic, real-time platforms. Through real-world insights, the discussion breaks down the tradeoffs between control and adaptability, the role of automation and AI readiness, and the impact on finance teams.

The conversation also provides practical guidance on when to modernize versus when legacy systems may still suffice, along with key warning signs like heavy manual processes and lack of data trust. Ultimately, the episode emphasizes that successful EPM decisions are not about chasing new technology, but about clearly defining business problems and choosing solutions that support long-term growth and strategic decision-making.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, everything is changing so quickly these days and especially with all the new technologies, AI, everything that is out there. So why not look at every system that you have and maybe talk about it a little bit. But what's changed in the business environment that end of life systems really weren't built for? I would say 3 big shifts, speed, visibility and alignment. Decisions are happening faster. Leaders want real time decisions. And the biggest piece is really one single source of truth, trusting your data. So with those three big shifts, you know, legacies systems weren't meant to keep up with this kind of change. Yeah. And do you have any like specifics there in terms of like that single source of truth? Is that just their data from like their ERP or is that financial data? Like what specifically are we talking about here? It's all so you have your ERP and your sources, you have multiple ER PS, but it's also the home grown kind of systems, your Excel driven, you know where you're to having different data models being representative as what the single source of truth to finance leader might look like. So having an EPM system now can take all those source systems and that data and roll it up to what level of detail that the CFO organizations are looking for. Yeah. And would you say that those are the points that most of these finance teams are struggling with the most? 100% And I'd say they're stuck in the mechanics. And what I mean by that, it's so much Excel manual consolidations, manual planning cycles, more time spent on gathering the data versus analyzing it. So finance should be driving strategy rather than chasing numbers.

OK, so how would you say a typical end of life EPM process actually works today? It's batch driven. Periodic planning happens in cycles, data moves in stages, and Excel fills the gaps. You know, again, we continue to talk about Excel. It it, it's a great leverage of again, just a gap filler, but it's not giving you what the real systems offer. In the newer EPM solutions, reporting often depends on fewer key admins that can eventually be bottlenecks to that process. OK. So it's more cell heavy focus more on manual processing instead of like an automation type of thing, right? That is correct. OK. So how does this differ from the modern cloud based platforms that are out there? So great question. It continues, it's continuous in real time and we continue, you're going to continue to have those terminologies. It's data is always current, workflows are built into these systems, The business can self-serve insights and take the heavy reliability off of IT and the admins. OK. So yeah, so it's less manual processing, it's more of a platform that can do it for you instead of doing it yourself. Or is there still a lot of manual oversight that you see in even a modern platform? Great question. Again, it goes back to standardizing your business processing. You could have the best system, but if you're not standardizing the business processing, you're still going to have those manual interventions.

OK, awesome. So let's talk about that. Where do companies start to feel the gap in their day-to-day operations? I would say, you know, again, it's let's not start with technology, it's the way you want to operate in the future. And again, it's understanding the growth on where the your market is shifting towards where your competitors are going. It's then deciding on how you want to shift that operating model and then leverage the technology to, you know, enhance that.

So if we're talking about why someone should switch or the mindset that they're looking and why they would want to switch, how does someone decide that to actually be able to switch or maybe it's the right time or maybe their business is growing to an exponential rate. What, what are the signals that some of our customers out there should be looking at? So there are a couple of key questions I always look at, you know, it's, you know, how much manual effort is involved today. You know, do you trust your data? How long is your close cycles and how fast do you need to make decisions? Those are key triggers that should identify, you know, OK, great. If you're answering those truthfully and transparently, you'll be able to understand what your next move in your EPM stages will be.

And you talked about earlier in this episode about how long you have been throughout the Big Four and many of your other jobs that are out there. What was it like when they started utilizing EPM to this type of rate of like the newer systems? And that's like the close cycles that they were doing and speeding that up. What what was that experience like for you? It was great, you know, working with like $18 billion companies and seeing again, everyone has the same challenges and struggles, but it's being willing to adapt and understand that there is products out there that can help you.

With that being said, you also have to understand that you have to deep dive into your business processing and that goes from your ERP into your EPM. But watching a, and I'll use an example, one of my clients we took them from a five day close to a one day close. So, you know, they're still looking to get real time data on a, you know, hourly basis, but they took that from a five day to a one day that gave back a lot of people's time that was manually putting that effort in because even though it was 5 days, there were like 10 plus people on a 24 hour shift for those five days trying to process data.

So seeing them get that back, if it's on a personal matter or if it's really being able to now be strategic and helping the CFO organizations, you know, and the board members and you know, really drive what their next steps and phases will look like, you know, from a year out. It was amazing to me. I'm sure that those people are still thankful for you today.

I can't imagine that difference because yeah, you you say like 5 days to one day. And if you're a common person that haven't been through something like this, maybe it's like, oh, who cares, That's only four days. Like what are we talking about here? But to say the 24 hour shift, that is so much time that is put into an end of cycle close, yeah, you're really giving back not only the lifestyle that a lot of these people would love to live.