Beyond Spreadsheets: Empowering Proactive Decision-Making for Banks

In today’s banking industry, finance teams face mounting challenges. Regulatory demands are tightening, competition is intensifying, and the need for real-time decision-making has become more critical than ever. With an evolving industry landscape, finance teams are thus being tasked with a broader remit to drive business strategy, risk mitigation, and growth. Finance must unlock new business opportunities while managing traditional financial operations.

To succeed in this evolving role, finance teams need timely, accurate insights that support data-driven decision-making across the organization. Yet many banks still rely on outdated tools like spreadsheets, hindering this strategic objective.

Spreadsheets create inefficiencies that impede decision-making. In fact, issues such as manual data entry, version control, and data silos clearly show that more advanced solutions are needed. As pressures increase, chief financial officers (CFOs) recognize the importance of unified data and AI in transforming the finance function. In fact, according to OneStream’s Finance 2035 research, which focuses on emerging trends and positioning finance teams as strategic enablers, seventy-four percent of CFOs surveyed predict that AI and data unification will significantly transform finance. Banks need to move beyond spreadsheets and adopt modern, unified platforms that not only enhance financial transparency but also provide the agility required to stay ahead in today’s fast-evolving market.

The Spreadsheet Problem and the Need for Financial Transparency

Long a staple of finance, spreadsheets are becoming a liability. They are prone to errors, difficult to scale, and cause fragmented data that delays critical decisions. As a result, time is wasted managing multiple versions, manually entering data, and resolving discrepancies. These inefficiencies leave banks at a disadvantage in a fast-paced market that demands speed and precision.

Traditional financial reporting methods can’t keep up with today’s complexities. As proof, a we found that a staggering 70% of chief executive officers (CEOs) and CFOs believe that organizations not investing in the right technology will fail within five years. Banks must ultimately manage vast amounts of data, track liquidity, adhere to regulations, and provide real-time insights to support strategic decisions. When relying on spreadsheets, banks are left unprepared for the demands of real-time data and rapid market shifts.

Unified data platforms address this need by consolidating data from various departments into a single source, enhancing collaboration and breaking down silos. With all financial data centralized, banks can quickly assess capital and liquidity positions, make informed decisions, and maintain compliance more effectively.

Real-time financial intelligence also allows banks to proactively monitor key metrics, respond swiftly to market changes, and manage capital in real time. With such agility, finance teams can stay ahead of evolving economic and regulatory conditions.

Moving Beyond Spreadsheets with a Unified Platform for Finance

To achieve financial transparency and strategic agility, banks must adopt platforms designed for real-time data collection, analysis, and reporting. Integrated and consolidated financial and operational data across departments and geographies helps banks eliminate manual processes, reduce errors, and always ensure accurate, up-to-date information.

With a unified ecosystem, banks can do the following:

• Integrate critical systems such as risk management, treasury, and compliance tools to improve collaboration and data accuracy.
• Model various financial scenarios to simulate outcomes and prepare for economic or regulatory shifts.
• Assess risks comprehensively by leveraging consolidated data from across the organization.
• Respond proactively to market changes using real-time insights to stay agile and competitive.

Plus, automation handling repetitive tasks means CFOs and finance teams can focus on higher-value activities, such as forecasting, making strategic plans planning, and advising business units.

When talking to CFOs across organizations we found that 76% of CFOs believe finance needs to shift from being reactive to proactive. Banks can therefore no longer afford to wait until month-end to assess their financial standing. With a unified finance platform, teams can continuously monitor performance and run what-if scenarios. Such capabilities allow banks to swiftly adjust strategies based on economic trends or market fluctuations. For instance, finance teams can optimize capital allocation, adjust liquidity reserves, and model interest rate changes — all in real time. This agility is crucial for navigating today’s fast-evolving financial environment.

OneStream in Action

OneStream’s unified data management platform allows banks to leverage data in new, transformative ways, far beyond traditional financial reporting. By centralizing all financial and operational data into a single system, OneStream eliminates the challenges of managing disparate data sources. As a result, banks gain a holistic, real-time view of their operations.

This streamlined approach empowers finance teams to become strategic advisors to the business, unlocking insights that were previously difficult to access due to fragmented systems and manual processes.

The ability to unify data also enables banks to perform advanced analytics, moving beyond basic reporting into sophisticated scenario modeling and predictive analysis. This capability allows banks to forecast potential economic conditions, assess the impact of market volatility or regulatory changes, and test different strategic initiatives before implementation. By anticipating risks and opportunities, banks can optimize capital allocation, improve liquidity management, and make more informed decisions to drive growth.

A leading financial services organization with over $40B in revenue embarked on a journey to modernize its financial planning processes. Previously, the organization relied heavily on Hyperion Planning, Essbase, and manual Excel-based workflows. These workflows were used for tasks such as revenue and loan modeling, CCAR reporting, scenario modeling, and goodwill impairment testing. However, the processes were cumbersome, relied on overnight batch runs, and offered little standardization, creating inefficiencies and slowing decision-making. The organization recognized the need for a more agile and integrated platform to support the organization’s financial transformation goals.

By adopting OneStream, the organization transitioned away from Excel-dependent processes, significantly reducing reliance on manual data handling. OneStream enabled real-time, on-demand calculations — allowing critical data to reach decision-makers faster and ultimately improving the accuracy and efficiency of financial processes. Monthly outlooks were shortened by one business day and monthly close processes by half a day. In addition, OneStream, provided enhanced transparency and auditability. The flexibility to easily integrate additional data sources and configure business models further empowered the organization to adapt to changing needs, all while automating data lake integration for streamlined data management. This shift not only eliminated the limitations of Excel but also aligned the organization with its broader strategic transformation goals.

Time to Move On from Spreadsheets

The time to move beyond spreadsheets is now. In the current environment that demands speed, accuracy, and adaptability, banks relying on manual, error-prone methods of financial reporting will struggle to keep pace.

Looking ahead, the integration of AI-enhanced capabilities into the OneStream platform’s planning and forecasting flows with Sensible ML introduces a new level of intelligence to banking data. Banks can now analyze complex datasets to identify patterns, uncover inefficiencies, and explore new revenue opportunities with greater precision. By incorporating detailed metrics — such as net interest margins, liquidity ratios, credit risk scores, and loan-to-value ratios — the platform enables more dynamic, granular forecasting.

What once took weeks can now be achieved in a fraction of the time, allowing for highly detailed forecasts that can be adjusted down to weeks, days, or even hours. This increased granularity empowers banks to quickly adapt to shifts in the industry.

For instance, real-time adjustments in response to an economic downturn or interest rate fluctuations allow for more agile liquidity management, loan pricing strategies, and capital allocation. This level of responsiveness enhances competitiveness, enabling banks to capitalize on emerging opportunities and swiftly mitigate risks.

This shift isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about empowering finance teams to become strategic leaders. With the right tools, CFOs can guide their teams into a future where financial transparency is key to success. By leveraging OneStream, banks can move from reactive financial reporting to proactive, data-driven decision-making, positioning themselves to thrive in the face of market challenges and opportunities.

Conclusion

As the Office of the CFO takes center stage, higher expectations bring new pressures that require new skills, workstreams, and technology. We worked with Man Bites Dog and several academic institutions to launch the Finance 2035 Initiative to help empower CFOs with innovative solutions for navigating a more dynamic business environment while ensuring transparency and efficiency across financial functions.

Read more in our Finance 2035 report.