Financial planning and budgeting aren’t just something that happens in the back office anymore; they’re important for growth and staying strong in today’s competitive environment. The risks are much larger for small and medium-sized enterprises because every dollar counts due to limited resources, narrower margins, and quick changes in the market.

Companies that still use old-fashioned, manual budgeting methods often run into:

• Slow decision-making due to lack of real-time data
• Inaccurate forecasts that lead to missed opportunities or overspending

• Difficulty adapting to economic shifts or unexpected challenges

Strategic financial planning helps organizations be flexible, use their resources wisely, and make smart choices that will lead to long-term success. That’s why LBMC Technology Solutions is starting a new service that will help small and medium-sized businesses modernize their budgeting and financial planning.

What ERP Financial Planning Tools Tend to Miss

ERP systems are great for handling daily transactions and operational procedures, but they generally don’t work well in areas that are important for long-term financial planning. A few common gaps:

• Limited Forecasting Capabilities: ERPs can only look at past data, which makes it challenging to predict patterns or simulate future situations.
• Static Budgeting Processes: Some ERP technologies don’t let you make rolling predictions or change things on the go.
• Limited Opportunities for Teams to Work Together: Finance teams often struggle with collaborating within ERP systems.
• Not Enough Analytics: ERPs don’t often include powerful analytics or visualization features that allow you to dive deeper into financial information.

These limits make small and medium-sized businesses more likely to make sluggish decisions and miss opportunities, especially in markets that are changing quickly.

Introducing Martus and Solver: Closing the Gap

We now have two best-in-class systems, Martus and Solver, that each address various demands and provide measurable value.

Martus: Make things easier and faster

Martus is a cloud-based budgeting and forecasting tool for small and medium-sized businesses who wish to go beyond spreadsheets. It helps companies:

• Automate budgeting tasks to save time and make fewer mistakes.
• Improve forecasting accuracy for better planning
• Get real-time access to financial information from anywhere.
• Collaborate easily across teams with a secure, intuitive interface.

Martus makes budgeting easier and gives you a strategic edge.

Solver: Look at and improve

Solver goes beyond by giving organizations that need full financial information superior analytics and reporting tools. Companies can do the following with Solver:

• Merge data from multiple sources for a complete financial picture.
• Create dynamic reports and dashboards for actionable insights.
• Model different situations to plan for growth and lower risk.
• Integrate seamlessly with leading ERP systems for efficiency.

Solver gives small and medium-sized businesses the tools they need to plan, analyze, and refine their financial strategy.

Integrations That Make Things Work Better

Martus and Solver both work well with popular ERP systems including Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Sage Intacct. These integrations are mission critical for the benefits that they deliver include:

• Real-time syncing of data across ERP and budgeting platforms
• Better accuracy by getting rid of human data entry and reducing errors
• Making decisions faster by having access to financial information in real-time
• Improved collaboration between finance and operational teams

Why Integration Is Important

Companies that do not have their financial planning and budgeting integrated with their ERP systems can leave themselves open to these major challenges:

• Manual Data Entry and Duplication: Finance personnel must spend hours importing data from the ERP system into the budgeting systems increasing the risk for mistakes and inconsistencies.
• Delayed Reporting: When data doesn’t flow in real time, reports and forecasts are based on old knowledge, which can complicate and drag out the decision process.
• Limited Visibility: When systems aren’t connected, they make data siloed making it harder to gain visibility to the full picture of the company’s finances across all divisions.
• Higher Operational Costs: Manual work and reconciliation take time and resources that could be better spent on more strategic initiatives.
• Scaling Problems: As companies grow, it’s harder, more costly and less efficient to manage multiple disconnected systems.

You can avoid these challenges by connecting your ERP with Martus or Solver. This creates a single, unified system that supports planning and enables faster, smarter decisions that improve business outcomes.

Martus and Solver integrate seamlessly with Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, but they aren’t limited to any single ERP platform. Because they can work with nearly any ERP system, organizations gain flexibility today and the freedom to scale as their business grows.

The LBMC Edge

LBMC Technology Solutions will collaborate closely with you to ensure that together we choose the best solution for your business. Whether you need a simple, easy-to-use budgeting solution or a robust platform for advanced planning and analytics, we will help you to gain access to the information that drives results.

Our promise is simple: If we don’t help you achieve your financial goals, we’ll make it right.  We guarantee it!