Alko: Streamlined Budgeting and Forecasting with Clausion

Alko, a nationwide specialty store chain with over 350 stores, sought to optimize its budgeting and financial planning processes. Alko's net sales exceeded €1.3 billion in 2020 and it employs approximately 2,500 people.

For years, Alko relied on Basware's Business Planning system for budgeting and financial planning. In 2013, they opted for a more modern tool, ultimately selecting Clausion from insightsoftware.

A key challenge for Alko is its vast network of stores – over 350 locations across Finland. This necessitates a highly efficient and user-friendly budgeting and financial planning solution. "Budgeting itself can be quite a burden," explains Tero Manninen, Controller at Alko. "We strive to make store-level budgeting as easy and straightforward as possible. We leverage the system's automation and pre-built templates extensively. Our finance team meticulously prepares the initial budget, and store service managers can then provide clear and concise feedback on specific areas. This simplifies and expedites the budgeting process for them."

Implemented in 2021, Clausion's cloud solution provides a modern foundation for Alko's future financial operations. "Clausion Cloud seamlessly integrates with our overall architecture, streamlining the entire process," says Manninen. "Technically, everything functions flawlessly. Furthermore, cloud-based solutions enable smooth and swift version upgrades compared to on-premise systems."

While Alko utilizes other tools for financial reporting, Clausion remains its primary solution for financial planning and budgeting. The importance of forecasting has also grown significantly in recent years. Alko adheres to a rolling forecasting approach, reviewing forecasts monthly from sales to profit. Balance sheet forecasting currently occurs at a slightly slower pace, typically a few times a year. In recent years, Alko has refined its forecast versioning process and increased the frequency of updates. Maintaining a constantly updated view and incorporating changes promptly is crucial. "Our extensive experience with Clausion's system demonstrates its ability to effectively meet our budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning needs," says Manninen. "The system is stable, user-friendly for a wide range of users, and boasts excellent compatibility with Excel. Additionally, Clausion offers impressive flexibility for integration with various business systems. We're continually impressed by Clausion's commitment to ongoing development, consistently introducing new features and propelling the system forward."

• Fulfills budgeting and forecasting needs – a powerful tool for multi-unit organizations.

• Extensive experience – proven track record and confident in the system's ability to adapt to future needs.

• Modern cloud solution aligns seamlessly with Alko's overall architecture.

Learn more about how to automate your financial consolidation & simplify your business processes with Clausion. Ask for a free demo.