How ControlUp improved headcount planning and budget vs. actual analysis via Firmbase's FP&A platform
Remote and hybrid work is more popular than ever, giving birth to a whole new breed of technological solutions. ControlUp provides Fortune 500s – including four of the top five U.S. health insurers – with IT management and monitoring software essential to make sure employees stay connected wherever they are located. As ControlUp grew, its finance team started to seek more sophisticated solutions to do their FP&A.
“There are two primary reasons we chose to work with Firmbase,” said ControlUp’s Director of FP&A Eldad Bar-Asher. “First, the team. From the beginning I had full trust in Tomer and Vlad…Second, I was looking for an FP&A solution that offers a rolling forecast in addition to the approved budget. Our company has many budget owners and tools and they want budget information quickly. A great interface is important to achieve this purpose.”
In 2021, ControlUp raised $100 million and has been adding employees around the world. To keep up with personnel changes and costs, Bar-Asher has replaced his manual work done over spreadsheets with Firmbase’s integrated and automated platform.
“Firmbase reduced the time-spend on headcount planning from hours a month to just a few minutes because it pulls information from the HRIS system automatically,” he said.
FP&A platforms can take many months to implement. With Firmbase, implementation takes days.
“Firmbase implementation is very easy and quick,” Bar-Ashed commented. “I’m extremely satisfied with Firmbase’s responsiveness. They are always approachable, very intent to hear feedback and tend to incorporate good ideas they got from me or other partners.
As remote and hybrid work becomes even more common, ControlUp’s software is likely to be in increased demand. Firmbase has given its FP&A team the confidence that they have a tool in place that lets them keep tabs on things like BVA and headcount in realtime and lets them react quickly.
“I’d definitely recommend Firmbase to other FP&A colleagues,” Bar-Asher summed up. “The team is one of a kind, and the system is unique.”