Benefits:

• Enhanced data accuracy and efficiency: Cube's seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP ensured a smooth transition of financial data to Edge Fitness Clubs, significantly improving accuracy and efficiency in financial reporting.
  
  
• Significant time and cost savings: Since integrating Cube, Edge Fitness Clubs has streamlined and enhanced their models, making them more responsive and easier to update. This transition has saved approximately 30% to 50% of their time on specific tasks and significantly enhanced the quality of their financial output.
  
  
• Enhanced strategic insights and decision-making: Cube’s capabilities have allowed the FP&A team to focus on higher-value activities, thereby improving their strategic insights and decision-making. The ability to quickly and accurately respond to executive or board inquiries has been a key benefit.
  
  

Challenge:

Struggling with inefficient financial processes

Edge Fitness Clubs, known for its high-value, low-cost fitness solutions, faced significant challenges in efficiently managing its financial operations. 

Ethan Kutner, the Director of FP&A, experienced firsthand the limitations of their existing financial systems, which relied heavily on detailed, bottom-up modeling and analysis for budgeting, forecasting, and stakeholder communication. Burdensome cross-functional planning processes and outdated technology kept the FP&A team—a lean team of 2.5—stuck managing process and data integrity issues, instead of bringing strategic insights to the business.

“Excel was our main tool for data analysis, modeling, and reporting, but we encountered many limitations with this approach,” Ethan explained. “The processing power, speed, and functionality of Excel, coupled with difficulties in sharing and organizing models within our team, posed significant challenges.”

These limitations severely affected the team's efficiency. Tasks like month-end analyses, performance updates, budgeting, and scenario planning became increasingly difficult to manage effectively.

“During our annual budgeting process, we found ourselves managing between seven to fifteen Excel files for just a single update, depending on the scope,” Ethan shared. “These files were not only large and slow to process but also difficult to manage due to their interconnected nature, impacting revenue and expense calculations across various budget sections.”

The cumbersome and error-prone process greatly affected the team’s ability to quickly and flexibly respond to requests for changes from the executive team.

In response to these challenges, Ethan and his team recognized the need for a new solution. They began searching for a tool that could overcome the inefficiencies and constraints of their existing systems, aiming to establish a more streamlined, effective, and agile FP&A framework.

Solution:

Efficiency without compromise: streamlining financial operations with Cube

With the arrival of a new tech-savvy CFO, the timing was perfect for Edge Fitness to find the FP&A solution it truly needed. Cube fit the bill perfectly.

Here are a few of the key reasons why Ethan and his team chose Cube:

• Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) integration: Cube's ability to seamlessly integrate with the general ledger system was a top priority for Edge Fitness Clubs. This feature ensured a smooth transition of financial data, enhancing accuracy and efficiency in financial reporting.
• Keeping Excel at the core: Cube's standout feature was its ability to work smoothly with Excel. This meant the team could keep all the models they've spent so much time building in Excel, without losing any work. At the same time, Cube brought in new, advanced features. “With Cube, we didn't just save our Excel models; we made them better,” said Ethan. “They're now easier to adjust, lighter, and quicker to update. It's a real step up for our financial work.”
• Collaborative partnership and support: The decision to choose Cube extended beyond its features. The Cube team’s approachability, coupled with their growth-oriented mindset and commitment to engineering and client services, played a significant role. This relationship promised a collaborative partnership and continuous support.
• Speedy implementation: The implementation timeline was critical, and Cube impressed with its promise of a two-week integration. This rapid deployment allowed Edge Fitness Clubs to quickly leverage Cube’s capabilities without significant downtime.
• Efficient onboarding experience: Driven by the challenge to meet the two-week integration timeline, the proactive engagement from both Ethan and the CFO, combined with Cube’s responsive support, led to a swift and successful integration that exceeded expectations. “Cube’s commitment to working closely with us and paying attention to the finer details made the onboarding process seamless and effective,” said Ethan.

He explained that it was Cube's unique blend of technological efficiency, compatibility with existing workflows, and the strength of the team behind it that distinguished the software from other contenders like Datarails.

Results:

Hours of time—and hundreds of thousands of dollars—saved each year

Since onboarding Cube, Edge Fitness Clubs has experienced a big impact on its financial processes. 

The platform has allowed the FP&A team to streamline models, making them more lightweight and flexible. Although they still manage multiple files due to detailed analysis requirements, Cube enables more efficient data publishing and fetching. This shift to a cloud-based system has not only enhanced their model's responsiveness but also improved their presentation and adaptability, significantly reducing the time and effort previously required for updates and changes.

“We've certainly become more efficient, saving approximately 30% to 50% of our time on specific tasks,” said Ethan. “But the more significant benefit has been the enhancement of our output quality.”

The ability to conduct detailed analyses and produce better-quality templates has fundamentally changed their approach to financial planning and analysis. Cube allows the team to focus on higher-value activities, improving their strategic insights and decision-making capabilities. “Questions from executives or the board can now be addressed more quickly and with greater detail,” said Ethan.

Quantifying the value derived from Cube, Ethan estimates a total of 10 hours saved per week across the FP&A team, translating into substantial annual savings. “We’re saving around $300,000 a year,” said Ethan.

Looking ahead, Edge Fitness Clubs aims to enhance KPI integration and analysis using Cube. With a robust financial template and General Ledger integration in place, the focus is on deepening KPI analysis capabilities. This aligns with their goal to elevate financial modeling and variance analysis, leveraging Cube’s capabilities for comprehensive KPI management. The upcoming year promises exciting developments in strategic planning and operational insights.

Through Cube, The Edge Fitness Clubs has not just streamlined its financial operations but has also positioned itself for continued growth and innovation in the competitive fitness industry.