11 July 2025 · 6 min read
CFOs and CEOs: here are all the keys to take back control of your data and reporting this summer. Reporting tools, SaaS software, EPM: we cover it all.
Why summer is the right time for CFOs and CEOs to take back control of their reporting.
More than 45% of business leaders are now investing in the digitization of their financial processes. Their goal: become more efficient, make their organization more attractive and increase their ability to contribute to strategy. They understand just how important it is to equip themselves with the right technology tools. (PWC 2025)
In 2025, we are fully aware that digitization is key to the future. Our priorities often include one ambitious mission: setting up automated, consolidated reporting dashboards that bring together data from all our entities. But where do you start? The project can quickly seem complex, even unachievable, for lack of time or a clear method.
In this article, we share practical ideas to help you make the most of the summer period and calmly take back control of your financial and operational data.
How should you go about it? What goal should you aim for? And above all, why make optimizing your reporting your priority this summer? We give you every key we can to guide your thinking, while of course keeping things light, in true summer spirit. And if you're short on time, we recommend taking our quiz to download the list of essentials for setting up your reporting. 😉
I - Why use the summer to organize your tools and build your reporting?
The answer is simple: summer sits between two key moments: the closing that's just behind you and the budget preparation ahead. It's usually a quieter period, when you're under a little less pressure. The perfect opportunity to focus on those strategic tasks that so often get pushed back. In other words, it's the right time to make progress on what really matters.
Before going any further, if, like more than 49% of business leaders, you realize that data visualization and analysis are essential in 2025 (PWC 2025), we still recommend making sure you're clear on your needs before you start building your reporting:
- Do you need to simplify your forecasting processes?
- Do you feel the need to improve your costing models to optimize profitability?
- Do you want to make working capital monitoring a priority to track how much cash your activities consume?
- Would you prefer a clear view of your liquidity management to optimize your costs?
- Do you need to consolidate your data across several subsidiaries or entities, while also reconciling your intercompany transactions?
- Is building your reporting a source of stress: you don't know how to automate it, or even how to make sure it's reliable?
I wouldn't claim to read your mind, but since you're still with me, your answers are most likely "yes, yes and yes."
In that case, you need to get organized and give yourself the time you deserve to work on strategy, not on consolidating data. And remember: building reporting isn't just about adding one more SaaS tool to your stack, it's about giving meaning to the numbers and to what your teams achieve.
II - What does "taking back control of your data" through reporting actually mean, and above all, how can you get there on your own?
Whether you're the CFO or CEO of a company, you need an accurate view of your business's past, present and future. Digitizing and automating your reporting processes gives you 3 key benefits:
- secure your data flows in one single piece of software,
- enrich your dashboards automatically,
- make sure your indicators are reliable!
Having control over your data also frees you to make strategic decisions, instead of spending days gathering information in Excel (without even knowing whether the result is reliable).
To do this, you need to find SaaS software that meets several criteria:
- It connects to your business software: accounting, ERP, sales or even HR, to bring all your data together in one place.
- It offers automated options: so all you have to do is open the dashboard and analyze the data.
In other words, it must meet the criteria of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software, meaning a solution designed to centralize, analyze and leverage your data to make planning, decision-making and building reliable reports easier. Today, more than 35% of CFOs are ready to invest in this kind of software to "benefit from advanced analysis and simulation capabilities, better integration of company reporting (statutory, management, non-financial,…) or to anticipate the obsolescence of legacy solutions," as the PWC, 2025 study shows.
This software should also use Robotic Process Automation technologies (RPA). In finance, this means your software should automate repetitive tasks and those that used to be done manually in accounting, supplier and customer management, invoicing and financial reporting.
That's why we recommend turning to solutions like EMASPHERE, which let you take back control of your data quickly and 100% independently, as our customers confirm:
"With a single click, the team can generate up-to-date dashboards, saving valuable time."
Lenaïc Bladi, Chief Accountant at Concept & Partners
"EMASPHERE has become a core tool for analysis and discussion with the various managers across the organization."
Nicolas Bloemen, Business Controller at Standard de Liège
III - Is a reporting tool essential for your company?
Generally speaking, we'd be tempted to say "YES, of course," but that would be too quick a shortcut without explaining why.
A business generates a large amount of data related to its activity:
- Services: number of cases in progress, performance statistics for each advisor, forecast revenue…
- Restaurants: occupancy rate, capture rate, break-even point, morning vs evening patterns, number of covers…
- Retail: gross margin per product, revenue per m2, inventory turnover, revenue, DIO, weekly view...
- Healthcare: occupancy rate, EBITDAR, average daily rate, number of billed nights, FTEs,...
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And discover all the key indicators by industry in our guide to key performance indicators by sector.
Leaving this data untouched means missing out on a real gold mine. Your systems already hold valuable information; you just need to know how to use it. With the right reporting tool, you can make your numbers speak and decode the key signals in your accounting, financial and operational data.
Because today, the CFO's role is evolving: they are becoming a true "Chief Analytics Officer" responsible for:
"identifying performance levers to achieve their priorities: maximizing financial results and managing non-financial performance. (...) they invest in technologies that will enable them to leverage a significant volume of data" (PWC 2025).
That said, it's important to make sure your data is processed securely. Our EMASPHERE platform is trusted by organizations with very high standards, such as BNP Paribas and Deloitte. Every year, an external company carries out a penetration test to ensure the system is secure. As Olivier Gasche, External Financial Advisor for GTA Group, one of our customers, confirms: "We eliminate manual, time-consuming tasks, but above all, we gain in security."
IV - So this summer, are you ready to talk reporting, dashboards, SaaS software and consolidation?
Taking back control of your data is about much more than saving time: it means managing your business more effectively and sharing information more smoothly, both internally and externally, as Brieuc de Lamotte, CFO at Bevet, confirms:
"I export my EMASPHERE reporting and send it to the banks as is."
Even if summer has a reputation for being a quieter time (and we'd all like to believe it), we know your time is precious.
That's why our advisors are available to help you build your reporting dashboards. Allow a few weeks on average (depending on how complex your data is) to bring in all your data (HR, CRM, accounting, ticketing,...) and become 100% self-sufficient.
👋🏻 Bye bye Excel and all your reports scattered across your business software… and hello to a solution designed by a CFO, for CFOs!
"You can tell the founder of EMASPHERE is a former CFO; it's part of the solution's DNA."
Marion Fauveau, Reporting and Management Control Manager at SantéVet
"EMASPHERE pays for itself with the hours it saves me compared to Excel"
Arnaud Delmarcelle, External CFO at Saper Vedere
Rather talk it through with a human?
A first conversation, with no commitment, to see what your reporting could become.