Blog
We are happy to share our knowledge and experience, supporting you in taking charge of decision-making capabilities, and bringing together strategic, operational and financial data and decision-making.
Hypergene helps SSAB get stuff done: “Not even using all the features yet”
Being a leading company in one of the most competitive markets on the planet means managing projects, investments, and risks on a truly global scale. Luckily, steel giant SSAB has found the right tool to get it done: Hypergene Portfolios.
The Future for Finance Teams: Will Technology Replace the Controller?
Controller-rollen håller på att förändras. Trots det lever stereotypen om en stiff ”siffertrillare” kvar. Men när ny teknik driver innovation i hela verksamheten kan fördomarna snabbt dö ut. I stället kan controllers se både nya möjligheter och nya utmaningar landa på deras bord.
How to Digitalise Plans and Follow-up: “Think of it as a staircase”
Digitalisation affects all businesses. The goal is often flexibility and more efficient processes – especially as the world around us becomes increasingly unpredictable. Hypergene, with its cloud-based Planning and Performance Management Solution, is at the forefront of this development. To make the most of digitalisation, you need to take some key steps in the right order.
Reinventing Leadership for an Uncertain Future
We live in an age of unprecedented change. As new technologies reshape industries and global crises upend norms, the need for visionary leadership has never been greater. In a recent episode of our podcast, Competitive Edge, we explored with renowned futurist Nancy Giordano how today's leaders can effectively navigate uncertainty.
Motivation and Learning – Here are Five Tips to Nail the KPIs
It sounds simple: A few relevant and accurate KPIs that the team or organisation agrees on. Actions should be taken when they deviate. But reality is more complex than that. Ultimately, it is people who make the decisions and employees who take action. And there are several things to consider to ensure that speed and numbers don't take over.
Kaizen: Continuous Improvement with the Kaizen Method
Kaizen is a management philosophy aimed at continuously improving and developing processes, products, and services. Originating from Japan, Kaizen means "change for the better" or "continuous improvement."
Liquidity Budget and Liquidity Forecast
A Liquidity Budget shows a company's cash position by detailing the cash on hand and the budgeted cash inflows and outflows. A Liquidity Forecast, like the Liquidity Budget, often has a clearer purpose linked to future cash inflows and outflows.
What is a Financial Forecast?
A financial forecast is an assessment of how an organisation's income and costs will develop. Businesses use forecasts to monitor their budget and to help them decide if changes are needed.
Financial Control - What Does a Financial Controller Do?
Financial Control is the work performed by a Financial Controller and is primarily concerned with managing, analysing and reporting financial information within an organisation. Financial Controllers play a key role in ensuring that the organisation's financial processes and reports are accurate, efficient and in line with applicable laws and regulations.
Risk Management Structures and Responsibilities
How should you think about Risk Management and Risk Governance in practice? Who takes responsibility for what? You should have a plan that covers being informed about risks in your processes and operations, a solid analysis of your organisation's risk exposure, and a plan to reduce and manage risks. This should be measured with the right metrics continuously. How will you achieve this?
Risk Analysis: What to Do and What to Consider
At its core, risk analysis is about identifying potential risks, ranking them, and making a plan for how your organisation will deal with the risks in the event of a crisis. Risk analysis is a prerequisite for good Risk Management.
Empowering Real Estate Firms with Data-Driven CPM
Managing corporate performance is a multifaceted undertaking in real estate's dynamic landscape. With challenges like market fluctuations, regulations, and customer expectations, having an effective Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution is more critical than ever. Hypergene offers a solution tailored to the needs of real estate companies.
Change Management – and How to Succeed
Change Management is all about moving from the current state to a desired state using a structured approach that affects employees, who in turn act differently and create the change you desire.
The CFO Role is Changing
Here you will find out what a CFO does, what is "new" linked to the role, and what a CFO should have in mind going forward. You will like what you read if you enjoy digitalisation, efficiency, data, planning, and better decision-making.
The Key to Success in Tech Transformation
In this article, you will learn the components of a tech transformation and how to help the digital endeavours in a tech transformation create value. You will also discover the key to success in tech transformation.
Creating an Agile Organisation
This guide focuses on the construction of an agile organisation, a venture that seeks to generate value. You'll learn how to recognise your successes and receive advice on tools to implement in your new operational agile model.
How a CFO Can Assist in a Tech Transformation
Many people are talking about digitisation and tech transformation. The pace of change and the desire to create value-adding technology solutions for customers and employees is high and growing. Are you a CFO who wants to contribute?
Budgeting Tools – and Your Approach
Are you in search of a new budgeting system for your business and wondering how to act? Here we go through what to consider and provide you with four concrete pieces of advice.
CFO: Better Your Relationship with the CIO and CISO
Digitisation is high on the agenda for most companies, leading to increased investment needs and greater focus on data security. Consequently, the importance of a well-functioning collaboration between key roles in finance, IT, and security is on the rise.
What is Performance Management?
Performance Management is an approach and process that measures activities aimed at achieving goals and improving performance. It applies to both employees and the organisation, ultimately focusing on increasing the effectiveness of the company. Here, you will learn more about Performance Management systems, processes, and how to create a strong performance culture.
Rolling Forecast and Rolling Budget
Rolling Forecasts are a type of forecast that, instead of focusing on the calendar year, always base themselves on a set period going forward, such as 12 or 18 months. Rolling Forecasts are carried out continuously and are a support to the company management, but can also be used to, for example, forecast sales.
Agile Financial Planning
Agile Financial Planning is about rapidly adjusting your business finances. The ability to swiftly shift focus and rearrange financial plans flexibly is a competitive advantage today. In this post, you will learn the basics of Agile Financial Planning and where you should start your change journey.
Beyond Budgeting – Principles, Definition, and Requirements
When traditional budgeting is criticised by Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Controllers, the complaints often revolve around the process being time-consuming, costly, centralising financial management, shifting decisions upwards, and creating an illusion of control. There are also opinions that budgets quickly become outdated and are not sufficiently tied to the company's strategy. Some even argue that the budget sometimes creates obstacles in change work.
Different Types of Controllers
As a Controller, you can have different specialisations. For instance, you could be business-focused or more oriented towards accounting. Controller positions are found at group, division, company, and unit level.
What is Resource Planning?
Resource Planning is about identifying, forecasting, and allocating resources within an operation or business. The aim of Resource Planning is to ensure the effective utilisation of resources and it is an integral part of service companies and projects.
KPIs and How to Develop Them
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values that assist you in steering towards and achieving your business objectives. By selecting and defining the KPIs that best suit your company, you can guide your business in the right direction. Here, you will learn what a KPI is, why businesses use them, what makes a KPI a "good KPI", and how to develop them.
Cash Flow Analysis: All You Need to Know
In times when the external environment is less predictable, the significance of cash flow analysis increases. However, the process can be complex and time-consuming. This article outlines how to conduct a cash flow analysis, its structure, and how to approach your analysis.
Financial Management – Methods and Tools
Financial Management is the process of translating strategies and business plans into actions that will help achieve the company's financial goals. In this process, you aim to align the goals of employees with those of the company by implementing control, measurement, and follow-up.
Project Planning and Project Management
Project Planning is a process for defining the objectives of a project and determining the resources required to achieve these objectives. It encompasses defining the project’s scope, timelines, budget, risks, communication plan, and team organisation.
Launch of New Packaging of Hypergene
The opportunity to create even faster customer value and an increased interest in digitalising Financial and Strategic Planning processes drive Hypergene to launch new product packages. We asked Erik Thelander, Product Director, about the news.
What are Objectives and Key Results?
Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is the goal-setting framework used by Google. Many see Google as an innovative and forward-thinking company, so it's interesting to take a closer look at how their model for goal-setting works. What is OKR and how does Google use goal-setting?
Accept that the Future is Uncertain – Time to Rethink the Budget Process?
Today's approach to budgeting, monitoring, and forecasting runs the risk of not keeping up with the new demands of the world. A budget process that consumes months of the organisation's time and becomes outdated in the first quarter can cause you to lose both direction and momentum, according to two experts in the field. Here's how you should think instead.
What is ESG and how to do it?
ESG stands for "Environmental, Social and Governance" and is a framework for a company's sustainability work, including environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and corporate governance.
What is Balanced Scorecard?
Balanced Scorecard is a Strategic Management Tool that links a company's current actions to its long-term goals. Balanced Scorecard is one of the most recognised and popular methodologies for Business Management, but what is it and is the tool still relevant?
What is a Decision Support system?
Decision Support is a set of methods that support decision-making through collecting, processing, and presenting data and information. This definition emphasises that people, not computers, make the decisions.
Different Management Models and Philosophies
There are countless models for management and governance that are more or less well-known. These models often have different acronyms and have evolved and become more numerous over time. Some of them, several of which are related to each other, are briefly described below.
Project Budget: How to Do Project Budgeting
A project budget is a plan for how much money will be spent on a project. The project budget plays a crucial role as it helps ensure that the project stays within budget and that adequate resources are available to complete the project.
Hoshin Kanri: Method and Process
Hoshin Kanri is a Strategic Planning process and methodology that focuses resources on achieving strategic, tactical, and operational goals. Hoshin Kanri is also known as Hoshin Planning, Policy Management, or Lean Strategy Deployment, and means "compass needle management" in direct translation from Japanese.
Business Control - What Does a Business Controller Do?
Business Control is the work carried out by a Business Controller, and is largely about producing, analysing, and presenting relevant decision-making information for managers within an organisation.
Quality Management and Quality Management Systems
Quality Management involves ensuring quality through the right processes to handle deviations, reduce customer dissatisfaction, and meet expectations. Systematic quality work involves systematically improving what the organisation does by managing, leading, and developing in the right way.
Operational Planning and What a Tool Can Do
The aim of Operational Planning is to align long-term Strategic Planning and actual execution. This is largely done by steering the organisation toward certain goals. Operational Planning is therefore often closely related to Strategic Management.
Most Important for Finance Departments: “Improve the technical conditions”
Global trends are not always visible in the finance department. But some trends have a precise impact. The budgets of Swedish finance departments are changing – not least when it comes to digitalisation. So, which trends do CFOs and controllers need to monitor? And which steps towards change should you take today?
Big Data and BI
Business Intelligence and Big Data are often mentioned in the same context. But what does Big Data actually mean and is it something everyone can use in their BI tool? The answer is usually that what many people think of as Big Data is not actually "big", even if it is a large amount of data with high value for your organisation.
What is Corporate Performance Management?
Corporate Performance Management includes all the actions taken by management at different levels to achieve a particular result. This includes leading, managing, and developing your business to ensure your resources are used as effectively as possible in achieving your goals. Management can be viewed as a cycle with three components: Planning, implementation, and monitoring.
Five Steps to Better Decisions and More Flexible Management
Management is about making decisions at different levels in an organisation, and translating these decisions into actions that lead the business forward.
What is Strategic Planning?
Strategic Planning forms the basis for setting goals and priorities, and for ensuring that an organisation’s plans are going in the right direction. When the plans of different departments are unified and in line with the overall goals, the company has established a common direction.
What is Business Development?
Business Development means activities and processes aimed at improving business operations. Business development should create a more sustainable and profitable business. The work often takes place in the context of renewal or change.
How is the Controller Function Affected by Digitalisation?
Professor Lukas Goretzki at the Stockholm School of Economics, is researching this question, since the Controller Function is certainly affected to a significant extent. ”The only constant in the Controller Function is change,” Goretzki says.
TCFD, Climate Risks, Guidelines and Reporting
The Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures is a framework that describes how to report climate-related risks and opportunities in your company's financial disclosures. Find out what TCFD means and what to consider when reporting.
GHG Protocol: Reporting and Documentation
The GHG Protocol is the most established standard for calculating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. Here you will find out what the GHG Protocol is, what the standards are within the protocol, how to report according to the protocol and what principles to follow when GHG is part of your sustainability reporting.
What is Business Intelligence?
Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term that refers to data-driven methods and processes for improving business understanding and decision-making.
Five Questions on Decision Support for Higher Education Institutions
Planning to invest in a decision support system for a university or college? Here are some tips for what to think about and how to avoid common pitfalls.
A Comprehensive Solution or "Best-of-Breed" Software?
Organisations often ask us about about application strategies. For example, is it smarter to choose a comprehensive solution from one supplier, or to integrate several specialised solutions from different suppliers?
Financial Scenario Planning and the Budgeting Process
In a fast-changing business environment, companies and organizations need to be able to quickly monitor their financial situation and make changes in their plans going forward.
What is Goal Management?
Goal Management provides organisations with a method to effectively communicate strategies and business objectives to every manager, department, and individual within the organisation. The key is to establish a coherent thread between strategies, objectives, KPIs, and activities through appropriate tools and communication.
What is a Budget and What is Budgeting?
Budgeting is the process that leads to a budget. A budget is a financial plan and forecast for the company's economic events.
All You Need to Know About PMO (Project Management Office)
What is a Project Management Office? What does a PMO do? What are the responsibilities of a PMO? What are the different types of PMOs? Should one have a PMO, an Agile Transformation Office (ATO), or a Transformation Office (TO)? Here you will find answers to your questions about PMO.
Analytics Tools: What, How, and Why?
Analytics tools are designed to help you make decisions or, at the very least, streamline your company's decision-making processes by collecting, visualising, and communicating your data.
Business Model - What it is and How You Create One
Here, you will learn more about what a Business Model is, how to create one, and examples of different Business Models suitable for various industries. You will also receive tips on how to develop your existing Business Model to adapt to changes and enhance your competitiveness.
Forward-Looking Risk Management
Advice on Risk Management tends to be general because each company faces specific risks. However, adopting a passive stance, only adhering to legal requirements and avoiding financial losses, leads to deficient Risk Management. In this case, you won't be able to handle risks fast enough, irrespective of your sector.
Do You Want to Improve Your Business Plan?
The initial business plan is often created before the company is even launched. Thereafter, it is commonly reviewed and updated on an annual basis. You probably already have a business plan in place but may be looking to enhance it. Here is a list of what the business plan should include and some tips on how to improve it.
Reporting Tools: Maximise Insights through Proper Usage
A reporting tool aggregates information and is most commonly used by experts who wish to provide information to stakeholders. The report is a means of making data accessible. While many tools may possess reporting functionalities, a reporting tool is dedicated to reporting and is either standalone or has been developed as an integrated part of a broader tool.
What is GRC?
GRC is an organisation's ability to reliably achieve goals, manage risks and act in accordance with laws and regulations. GRC stands for Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance.
Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)
Financial planning and analysis is a term that describes the processes of financial planning, modelling, testing and reporting an organisation's finances. The work is usually done through software that helps finance departments add efficiency and control to budgeting and planning processes.
What Does a Controller Do?
A Controller's duties often involve gathering, compiling and communicating a company's financial information. A Controller ensures that business and operational goals are followed up, works with data, outcomes and information about financial results, and makes forecasts. The Controller ensures that the management and decision-makers receive the necessary financial information to drive the business forward.