Etihad, like many aviation companies, used a traditional FP&A system, with different cost models created from multiple sources of information.
This data was stored in large, complex excel sheets or access databases. Huge amounts of time and manpower were spent gathering, validating and reporting on data in the run up to budget time. More time was spent crunching numbers than analysing and making decisions.
With no central set of business drivers and data repository, each department worked separately, making it harder to pull in total results.
Our Work / Etihad Airways
Financial planning
reduced from months
to days
Client Etihad Airways
::
Sector Aviation
Challenge
Too much time spent crunching the numbers
Ability to understand our needs...
Miagen had recently opened an office in the Gulf and we were intrigued with their offering, particularly their ability to understand our needs and meet our exacting requirements, along with the familiarity and ease of use of the Adaptive Planning model
Shariq Daudi, Head of Planning at Etihad Airways.Solution
Move from old world FP&A to technology empowered decision making
Miagen specified and used one of the world’s leading FP&A technologies to implement a solution and support the Etihad FP&A team. The Miagen team helped map and steer the course from beginning to end.
Determine KPIs and define numeric modelling
Financial planning models were created to allow specific and detailed analysis of what elements of the business were driving costs and driving profits. This helped management and finance departments instantly see where profits could be increased. A clear, robust financial model was designed for deployment.
Implement FP&A technology
An automated, cloud based application was implemented as this was fundamental to moving Etihad to technologically empowered FP&A.
Automating the existing reporting process had an almost immediate impact as the amount of errors reduced overnight, improving financial close time and accuracy. Building in new features such as dynamic rolling forecasts significantly freed up resources as less time was spent gathering data.
The single cloud application connected all areas of the business, bringing everyone at Etihad into the finance picture and sharing responsibility for FP&A to all stakeholders within the organisation.
Empower the Etihad team
The Etihad team were fully trained and supported on the new models and systems, empowering them with the ability to make changes on the fly, in line with strategic direction, without depending on a consultant.
Outcome
A crystal clear view into the real mechanics of Etihad’s profitability.
Multi-dimensional view of business profitability
Planning is now based around profitability rather than costs and overheads. The organisation is no longer driven by cost centres, meaning focus is no longer on cost control, but has shifted to profitability and the drivers that enable this.
Further reduced financial close time and improved accuracy
Under the previous FP&A system the finance team had to manually collect data, validate it, format it and create reports. Thanks to the new automated system, Etihad have been able to reduce the budget process from 3 months to a number of days.
Moved finance to consultative role
Planning is much more agile, teams are quicker to respond to queries from management, resulting in more time to question and analyse the data and so make better decisions.
Decentralised planning to responsibility holders
Thanks to the implementation of an integrated and cloud based system, financial planning is open and accessible to all areas of the organisation. Accountability for FP&A has dramatically improved across the organisation.
On the fly modelling in line with changes in strategic direction
Stakeholders are empowered with the knowledge and ability to make changes on-the-fly, driving real change within the organisation.
Easy to use...
Our team love using Miagen's budgeting model; it’s fast, easy to use and we can manage it ourselves.
Shariq Daudi, Head of Long Term Planning & Budgeting, Etihad Airways