DataRails, the AI-powered Financial Planning and Analysis platform, has unveiled a new solution that aims to revolutionize how small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) approach financial analytics. The product, called “Insights” by Genius, leverages advanced AI capabilities to provide SMBs with enterprise-level financial insights and analysis.
SMBs often struggle with sophisticated financial analytics due to limited resources and expertise. Traditional FP&A tools and methods have been largely inaccessible to these companies, leaving them at a disadvantage in terms of financial decision-making and strategic planning.
“Midmarket or SMBs, the reason why CFOs don’t have the wherewithal to generate sophisticated analytics is because they’re limited in resources,” Didi Gurfinkel, CEO and Co-Founder of DataRails, told StartupHub.ai. “Even if they have access, even if it’s free, they just don’t have enough knowledge, time and resources to utilize the tools.”
A Virtual FP&A Team Powered by AI
DataRails’ new offering addresses this challenge by creating what Gurfinkel calls a “virtual FP&A team.” The AI-driven system mimics the interaction between a CFO and an FP&A manager, providing proactive insights and analysis that would typically require a dedicated team of financial analysts.
The system works by allowing businesses to input multiple KPIs driving their operations in a “one and done” configuration. From this input, the AI engine automatically provides instant analysis, including trend identification, variance analysis, predictions, budget vs actual (BvA) and Forecast vs Actual (FvA) comparisons.
Proactive insights and recommendations
One of the key innovations of DataRails’ new product is its proactive approach to financial analysis. Instead of waiting for users to ask specific questions, the AI system actively surfaces important information and potential issues.
“We flipped the coin from waiting for the CFO to ask questions, and moved to a proactive approach, utilizing Generative AI to try and understand and build very focused and relevant insights that are pertinent to the CFO,” Gurfinkel explained.
This is a proactive approach. It allows the system to identify risks and opportunities before they become apparent, giving SMBs a significant advantage in their financial planning and decision-making processes.
Combining internal and external data
DataRails’ solution goes beyond analyzing internal company data. The system now incorporates external market information to provide a more comprehensive view of a company’s financial situation and potential opportunities.
“Once you take the context of the business data, and merge it with the internet, the results are mindblowing. Suddenly, the CFO can look at the business from the internal perspective, but also benchmark and factor relevant events in the market,” Gurfinkel said.
This combination of internal and external data allows SMBs to gain insights that were previously only available to larger enterprises with dedicated market research teams.
Practical applications and benefits
The new AI-powered FP&A solution offers several practical benefits for SMBs:
- Instant report generation in various formats, including PDFs
- Daily tracking of sales and expenses across divisions, departments, and geographies
- Real-time risk identification and aversion
- Improved employee and customer churn prediction
- More frequent and accurate forecasting
These capabilities allow SMBs to make more informed decisions about resource allocation, growth strategies, and risk management.
By leveraging AI to create a virtual FP&A team, the company is enabling SMBs to compete on a more level playing field with larger enterprises.
“We believe that this is the beginning of the revolution that will consequentially change the role of the CFO,” Gurfinkel concluded.
