E.A. Smith Is Thinking Bigger About Financial Planning - With CFO Platform

E.A. Smith is one of Norway's oldest and largest building materials groups. With over 800 employees, nearly 100 plants and well-known brands such as Smith Stål, Bygger'n and Heim, the company has grown steadily for over 150 years through acquisitions and collaborations. Growth has placed ever higher demands on governance and planning — and this was the start of a change.

We had to think differently. How would we build plans, store data and manage access? It quickly became clear that our old way of working was no longer working,” says CFO Olav Lindebrekke.

A company in constant growth

E.A. Smith has grown continuously for over 150 years through collaborations and acquisitions, and today operates several well-known brands in the building materials industry. With more business lines and hundreds of employees, the demands on planning and governance also grew.

“The more we grew, the greater the risk of errors in the process. We had a structure, templates and macros, but the more departments and budget owners were added, the more difficult it became to ensure the quality of the decision base,” explains Marianne Brandal of the finance department.

From Risk to Opportunity

A data breach in the summer of 2023 was the starting point for change. It gave the team a chance to pause and reevaluate the whole process.

“In the past, we had more top-down budgeting. With CFO Platform we were able to think new things: more bottom-up, involving the whole organisation,” says Olav, CFO.

For him, it was crucial that the solution provided both more efficient processes and a better overview. Previously, Excel files could fail in bulk updates via macros, or end up in the wrong versions when budget owners changed locally.

“With CFO Platform, we avoid that uncertainty. We can be sure that the numbers are right and that the process works in the cloud -- without manual detours,” he says.

Simplicity for users — despite complexity in the background

Two who were closely involved in the project were Aurora Moum and Marianne Brandal. They were in charge of training the managers for the 2024 budget work.

The most striking thing was the simplicity. After a short training, the managers were able to start work right away, almost without questions. We had put a lot of work behind the scenes to build a good model, but for the users it became intuitive and easy,” Marianne says.

“And that is precisely the strength: if you do the job properly, you basically get a solution that feels obvious to the end users,” she adds.

Ready for the future

For E.A. Smith, the change isn't just about replacing Excel -- it's about equipping oneself for the future.

“Our organization is constantly changing through acquisitions and new business areas. We need a solution that is scalable and not dependent on individuals. CFO Platform makes us more agile and long-term,” says Marianne.

Olav Lindebrekke agrees:

“We can now plan over several years instead of being stuck in calendar years. And we have everything we need to handle both growth and increased complexity.

A process that was previously felt heavy and difficult, and that many wanted to avoid, has become something that users appreciate.

“With Excel, the budgeting process was something you wanted to avoid. Now it's the other way around: everyone is very happy,” Marianne says with a smile.

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