Need a cash flow superhero? In today’s guest post, Matt Stocker, an independent strategic consultant, talks about the power to plan and the changing face of financial software.
A Bit About Me
My wife and I together run Matt Stocker Ltd, a strategic consultancy firm that works in partnership with businesses and other organisations to build success for tomorrow—not just today. Whether it’s helping an organisation to envision their future, develop an effective strategy, internationalise their service or product, or implement business excellence, we work with organisations across the strategic development process.
I’m always keen to try out new software and love beta testing, so was thrilled to get on the Float beta in late 2010. Also, given that my cash flow forecasting tool at the time was a Numbers spreadsheet (the Mac equivalent of Excel), Float sounded like a great idea! Being integrated into my accounting software (I use FreeAgent), Float had the potential to save a lot of time and hassle each month.
The Power to Plan
Two things I’ve noticed since I started using Float: more and more, I’ve found myself looking ahead financially, and really planning. Float gives me instant visibility on the financial health of the business and I can easily allocate future spending using that understanding.
Second: I’ve started playing around with potential income and expenditure scenarios, making me much more aware of the impact that different decisions have—this in particular enables me to plan intelligently. I also like the seamless way in which Float deals with the handover between forecasts and actuals (another thing that spreadsheets aren’t great at!).
The Future of Cashflow Software
Today, Float is a cash flow tool that completely blows Excel (and other spreadsheets) out of the water. Moving forward, with the new automatic Barclays Data Services feed into FreeAgent and the recent release of FreeAgent’s API 2, Float will now be almost 100% automated—thereby saving me even more time and opening up the way for some new, exciting and innovative features.
I’m really excited about the potential that Float has in the marketplace—especially with the growth of software as a service (SAAS) accounting tools such as FreeAgent. I believe that Float is one to watch! Having previously worked at a venture capital fund, I’ve seen a lot of businesses for which Float could be hugely useful—either those who don’t currently do any cash flow forecasting at all(!) or those who are still using spreadsheets.
Ultimately, I became a founder member of Float for two reasons—first, Float’s rapid development and resulting trajectory. And second, the potential it has in the marketplace. Oh, and because I like Float’s founders Phil and Colin, and have faith in them. I guess that’s three!
Matt Stocker, Matt Stocker Ltd
02476 100 193 | hello@mattstocker.com.
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