Superior hospitality experiences start with sophisticated underlying technology
Hoteliers must leverage technology for more accurate customer demand forecasts, better planning for capturing new opportunities and better integration between functions. With the right tools, hoteliers can radically improve visibility, efficiency and productivity across their business operations.
Cubewise and IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 offer the right tool – a highly flexible and sophisticated Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) solution that can scale with you as you grow and allow you to harness the unique complexity of your business.
Common challenges
Excel paralysis
Microsoft Excel isn’t set up for integrated driver-based budgeting and other key data transformations.
Not set up for collaboration
Many hoteliers use Microsoft Excel for their budgeting and planning functions but find it doesn’t efficiently integrate into the rest of the technology stack. Passing versions of spreadsheets around manually can introduce errors and it gets in the way of effective collaboration between teams. It also makes it difficult to maintain and update formulas, and creates a rift between finance and operations, something that hospitality operators can’t afford to do.
Data becomes out of date
Without purpose-built tools for collaboration, budgets can take a long time to prepare and may contain static information collected months ago. This means the final result is likely out of date and not reflective of current business conditions and forecasts. In addition, it can be difficult to identify problems because you don’t have the granularity or detail you need for proper diagnoses.
A dynamic database approach
Cubewise and IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 provides a single source of truth with a highly sophisticated dynamic database that can house all of your data in one place. By integrating financial and operational planning in a real-time environment, you can achieve powerful driver-based budgeting that enables better decision-making. Combine this with ad hoc self-service reporting and any stakeholder can make timely, informed decisions with all the information they need at their fingertips.
Flash reporting
Without a central data repository, nuanced flash reporting becomes highly resource intensive, if not impossible.
Manual processes
When relying on Microsoft Excel for hospitality reporting and analysis, it can be challenging to achieve effective automations for data integrations, uploads, consolidations or calculations. This means creating flash reports using manual processes, which are not only prone to error but also take up time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
Unable to make real-time decisions
Without the ability to pull real-time data for flash reporting, it’s almost impossible to support ad hoc analysis that can be used to make quick and decisive strategic decisions. On the flipside, the inability to drill down into the details makes it difficult to diagnose potential problems, which can be a significant impediment to growth in a highly competitive hospitality environment.
Automated reporting and analysis
Cubewise and IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 allow you to create a reporting data model that provides a centralized repository for reporting and analysis. The tool enables sophisticated drill-down capabilities to dig into details and a comprehensive self-service reporting setup for flash reporting and ad hoc analysis. These capabilities can transform your internal operations and the quality of your service to your customers.
Closing and consolidation
Hospitality finance teams face numerous challenges during their closing and consolidation processes that can be frustrating if they can’t rely on supporting technology to streamline those processes.
Long close cycle
Data collection in the world of hospitality is notoriously difficult and the challenges can be amplified if the enabling technology is not in place. A long closing cycle and complex data structure require substantial error checking if data quality is to be maintained – and this typically happens manually. This places time pressure on a finance team that is trying to produce both regulatory and management accounts in a highly dynamic environment. In addition, the monotony of performing time-consuming tasks can be a drag on morale.
Lack of data confidence
When hospitality finance teams constantly need to update and validate data, they can introduce errors. This sort of non-integrated financial consolidation system creates a lack of confidence about the data’s integrity and can sow doubt about the audit trail itself. Compounding this is the fact that there simply isn’t enough time for the manual checking and analysis required to ensure accuracy.
Streamlined consolidation
Cubewise and IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 allow you to move away from traditional consolidation where group companies submit their financial package and expect the centralized finance team to do the work. Instead, group companies can upload their data online and leverage a wide range of performance analysis and closing tools to ensure their data is correct before submitting. This streamlines and speeds up the consolidation process, reducing workload and increasing the level of control you have over your data.
Unified planning, financial consolidation, and flash reporting for hoteliers.
Stop relying on Excel templates that ignore the complexity of your business and are inflexible to changing market conditions. Here at Cubewise, we can help you leverage the power of IBM Planning Analytics / TM1 to implement a unified planning approach that allows you to pull data from the bottom up, while still maintaining tremendous drill-down granularity and control.
Improve your data integrity, support your company’s growth and free up your staff to focus on higher-value tasks thanks to strategically aligned reporting, hospitality-focused budgets and easy-to-use administrative solutions. If you’re a hotelier looking for a reliable, traceable and scalable planning, consolidation and reporting solution, look no further. We’re here to help.
Talk to us today and let’s overcome the challenge together.
When a system is unable to adapt to changing business circumstances, it can be tremendously frustrating for all who work with it. Things must go on, of course, and so users will resort to building tedious workarounds, simplifications and shortcuts that only serve to kick the can down the road.
Don’t accept that your business processes are incapable of adapting to fast-moving market changes. Contact us to find out how easy it can be to implement efficient and practical planning, reporting and forecasting workflows.
