Precise forecasting and rapid response to business changes - RELEX uses pigment for business planning

Transparency and efficiency in the planning process 

RELEX wanted to find a modern and flexible business planning solution that would allow the company to move away from numerous Excel spreadsheets and improve the transparency and efficiency of the planning process. The solution needed to enable joint planning of different functions and break down silos.

They also wanted a solution that could be easily modified after implementation by their own team. Pigment as a solution and twoday's expertise as an implementation partner convinced during demos and workshops.

Taking over the system through co-development 

From the beginning, it was decided at RELEX that most of the internal accounting team would participate in the implementation and development work together with the twoday team. It was found that the best way to learn as a system user is to participate in its implementation, so the process progresses faster and more efficiently. The implementation project took about four months, according to the plans and schedule.

Initially, co-development was more about listening to instructions and implementing them, but relexians quickly mastered the system and were able to build solutions independently and consider alternative implementation methods.

In the later stage, the aim has been to build as much as possible independently and to use twoday's help only when they are not sure how something should be effectively implemented or there are risks associated with it. For example, in the first budgeting process, twoday will be involved to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

"Co-development has been a very good experience. In practice, our experts implemented the rollout themselves with the assistance and guidance of twoday consultants. The majority of our team had no experience with similar systems, so the learning curve was steep from the start," says Peltola.

"The cooperation has also been really good right from the start, and the chemistry and cultures have met well - the atmosphere has been relaxed, but at the same time goal-oriented. Our business model was well understood, which sped up the work. Automation was quickly built into more complex KPIs related to the business model," Peltola continues.

Experts' time and energy to more meaningful use 

"The quickest benefit from implementing Pigment has been more precise visibility into costs. Complicated processes have been brought into an intuitive and user-friendly solution that we didn't have before," Peltola praises.

With Pigment, business changes can now be reacted to much more quickly, as it adapts to different uses and supports different user groups very well. The solution enables excellent collaboration between different users when everything happens in one place. This enables rapid response to varying end-user needs.

Typically, end users want to view data from various angles, and previously creating these different reports was time-consuming. Now, creating different reports for different target groups is quick and all data is updated in real time.

Previously, experts could spend most of their time on manual data entry and validation, leaving less time for the most important stage, such as forecast validation and stakeholder collaboration. Now, thanks to automation, this can be reversed.

"With the reduction of manual, repetitive work, our experts' energy is saved for those tasks where the human mind really should be utilized. Now we can concentrate our energy on what really matters - clarifying views, validating the forecast, and collaborating with stakeholders," Peltola states.