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It’s the morning of a crucial board meeting, and the finance team is in overdrive. The pressure is on to present an accurate and compelling financial narrative, but the data is scattered across a digital maze. Department heads are pinging in with a collection of Excel files, Google Sheets, Emails, and Slack messages, each containing fragments of the financial story.
Amidst the chaos, Sarah, the FP&A Director, remains calm. She has a secret weapon: Ask Precanto: Your FP&A AI Helper. While her colleagues rush to compile data from multiple sources, Sarah knows that clarity is just a few questions away.
She opens Slack, where Ask Precanto is seamlessly integrated, and types, “Where am I tracking Vs forecasted overall headcount expense for the Q1-2024?.” Instantly, Ask Precanto processes the request, drawing from real-time data. Within seconds, Sarah receives a comprehensive response, complete with visual charts and key insights.
Sarah follows up by asking, “Show me all the headcount changes for FY 2024 in a waterfall report”. Again, Ask Precanto swiftly retrieves the data, offering detailed breakdowns with interactive charts and analysis.
As her colleagues continue to scramble, Sarah confidently walks into the boardroom, ready to deliver a presentation backed by real-time, actionable insights. Her secret? Trusting Ask Precanto to turn data chaos into clarity.
What is Ask Precanto?
Ask Precanto is an AI-powered LLM chatbot that revolutionizes the way finance teams access and utilize data. Seamlessly integrating with existing systems, Ask Precanto delivers real-time insights and data retrieval capabilities that redefine financial analysis. It allows FP&A practitioners to ask any financial question and receive immediate, detailed answers as if they were consulting with a seasoned analyst. With Ask Precanto, users can engage in follow-up questions, create data visualizations, perform scenario modeling, and gain instant, actionable insights, transforming how you interact with data.
With Ask Precanto, companies can eliminate the tedious and time-consuming process of gathering data from multiple sources and people. Instead, users receive immediate responses to their financial questions, reducing the time spent searching for information and allowing them to focus on strategic tasks. Whether you’re looking to optimize budget allocations, identify potential risks, or streamline operations, all you have to do is Ask Precanto.
A New Era in FP&A
Instant Access to Data
Gone are the days of sifting through countless spreadsheets, emails, and systems to find the information you need. With Ask Precanto, all the data you need is just a question away, leaving the tedious process of searching for answers left to legacy systems. Authorized users can effortlessly access comprehensive financial data and insights across the business with a simple question.
Whether it's a comprehensive view of cash flow, a breakdown of departmental expenses, or a comparison of actual versus forecasted spending, Ask Precanto serves up the most relevant data you need to make decisions faster.
Ask Precanto’s intuitive interface and advanced querying capabilities ensure that users, regardless of their technical and finance expertise, can easily find the data relevant to their job function. Budget owners no longer have to wait to hear from finance to have insights on their actual and committed spend. This self-service functionality not only enhances productivity but also democratizes data access, enabling all parties across the company to contribute to the organization’s strategic objectives.
Improved Decision-Making
Imagine a common situation where budget owners must plan their spending based on the assumption that a certain number of new hires will start within the quarter. Traditionally, this involves collecting relevant information from across different systems and people to estimate start dates and projecting associated costs. This process is time-consuming and can often be inaccurate, leading to variances between the forecast and actual spend. These discrepancies can significantly impact budget allocations and strategic planning, leaving organizations scrambling to adjust mid-quarter or month.
With Ask Precanto’s advanced data retrieval capabilities, these challenges become manageable. Ask Precanto enables users to perform complex scenario and variance analyses directly from the chat interface, using real-time information and AI-driven predictions to create scenarios that accurately reflect potential outcomes. Precanto's AI/ML platform is fully integrated with Ask Precanto, allowing users to retrieve advanced calculations directly from the platform.
No longer does the budget owner have to spend time collecting data and making assumptions, they can now prompt Ask Precanto, and have the insights they need in seconds to make strategic decisions.
Instant access to your data and the ability to perform advanced self-service analysis allows budget owners to see beyond static forecasts, offering them a clearer view of possible future scenarios. They can make informed decisions about resource allocation, anticipate challenges, and capitalize on opportunities before they arise. The ability to explore various "what-if" scenarios, directly from Ask Precanto’s chat interface, means that organizations can proactively adjust plans, optimizing spend and aligning strategies with business goals.
Simplifying the Complexity
Integrated where you work
Ask Precanto is designed to integrate seamlessly into the existing workflows of teams by embedding itself directly where you already collaborate. Ask Precanto makes it possible to access instant financial insights through Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email. These integrations mean users don't have to log onto yet another tool to access critical financial insights.
For instance, a budget owner in a meeting, or on-the-go, can discuss quarterly budgets directly through a Slack channel and can instantly pull up relevant financial data by simply asking the bot. Not only does this enhance accessibility but also encourages collaboration by allowing team members to share insights and discuss strategies in a centralized platform. By bringing Ask Precanto into Slack, teams can effectively incorporate data-driven insights into their daily interactions, leading to more informed decision-making and streamlined operations.
Conversational Awareness
One of the standout features of Ask Precanto is its conversational awareness, which enables users to engage in naturally flowing conversations. This conversational ability allows users to refine their questions, delve deeper into data, and explore various aspects of financial insights all without having to gather more data or create new models to find the answer they need. Ask Precanto builds upon user’s questions by providing context-based answers and actionable recommendations.
See Ask Precanto’s Conversational Ability In Action by watching This Video
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
With RBAC, companies can manage who accesses specific data, granting permissions tailored to individual responsibilities. For instance, while a finance analyst might delve into data across an entire organization, a marketing professional might only need access to budget information on their department and location. This targeted access not only protects sensitive data from unauthorized users but also enhances organizational efficiency by ensuring that team members focus on data pertinent to their roles.
Embrace the Future of FP&A
As Sarah steps into the boardroom, she represents the future of FP&A, where instant insights and predictive analytics replace outdated methods. With Ask Precanto, she has transformed a chaotic mix of Excel files, Google Sheets, emails, and Slack messages into a coherent, actionable financial narrative. Its seamless integration into Slack allowed her to access critical insights where her team works, boosting productivity and fostering collaboration. Ask Precanto’s natural language processing empowered her to engage in conversational queries and explore scenarios with precision, crafting a presentation backed by data-driven predictions. Her story illustrates the transformative power of Ask Precanto, showcasing its ability to perform complex analyses and provide secure data access. Embracing Ask Precanto enables finance teams to move beyond reactive approaches to proactive strategies that drive growth and innovation.
Transform your financial planning with Ask Precanto: Your FP&A AI Helper and schedule a demo today!
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