All-Seeing AI: The Facts About Real-Time Cash Forecasting

A real-time view on corporate cash and liquidity positions has become crucial to optimal decision-making. Yet for many companies still struggling to aggregate their siloed data sources, this might as well be a notion from a work of science fiction. Prepare to open your eyes, says Sarah Eckstein, Product Manager, Coupa. Here’s why.

There’s a problem with cash forecasting. And the more it is relied upon to give companies the best chance of surviving, let alone thriving, the worse the problem gets. If that sounds like an end-of-days scenario, be assured that there is a solution, and what’s more, it’s one which most companies could be moving towards now.

The real challenge concerns the data. In stressed times, such as during the current pandemic, the importance of knowing where the company stands now, and where it will be in the next hours, days, weeks and months, increases significantly. Having the right data at the right time enables reaction in a timely manner to a broad sweep of mounting risks, not least with foreign exchange (FX) and counterparties, says Eckstein.

Removing silos

The trouble with financial data is there are many commercial scenarios that push and pull it in the wrong direction, often by creating silos, inconsistent formats and multiple versions of ‘the truth’. This styles data management, and ultimately data value, as a matter of serious concern, especially when it relates to cash forecasting.

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