If you’ve found yourself exporting yet another spreadsheet to analyze financials or build projections, you’re not alone. For many finance professionals, Excel remains both a trusted ally and an unavoidable crutch. But why?
At its core, this dependency comes down to one frustrating truth: accessing the right data—when and where it’s needed—is harder than it should be. Whether it’s operational restrictions, aging on-premises solutions, or underutilized cloud data warehouses, finance teams often find themselves stuck in a cycle of exporting, formatting, and manually reconciling data. Instead of leveraging real-time insights, they’re left dealing with static reports and outdated information.
The good news? There is a way out. By harnessing AI-driven analytics and automation with cloud data warehouses, finance professionals can eliminate manual work, streamline data access, and unlock powerful insights without relying on IT or outdated processes. With platforms like Alteryx, teams can finally bridge the gap between raw data and actionable financial intelligence—turning cloud-based infrastructure into a true competitive advantage. Here’s how.
Why Data Access Is Hard
Operational Systems – Why Restrictions Are Justified
Operational systems are the backbone of any organization. These are the systems running daily processes, such as order management, payroll, or customer relationship management. They weren’t designed to support large-scale analysis; their primary job is to keep the business humming.
Consider this: if dozens of analysts started pulling live data from an operational system during peak business hours, the system could slow down or even crash, disrupting critical processes like customer orders or inventory updates.
For this reason, IT teams often restrict direct access. It’s a justifiable safeguard to ensure stability and prevent data-related mishaps. However, this often leaves finance professionals in the dark, scrambling for alternative ways to access the data they need.
Legacy On-Premises Solutions – The Bottleneck Effect
Legacy on-premises data warehouses and data marts were groundbreaking in their time, built for a simpler era of business needs. But in today’s fast-paced, data-driven world, these systems have become a burden rather than a solution.
On-prem systems depend on outdated data processing methods, where information is collected and updated in large batches. This means finance teams often have to wait days or even weeks for IT to provide updated information. And when those reports finally arrive, they’re often static and outdated, leaving teams scrambling to fill gaps with ad-hoc workarounds in Excel.
The inability of legacy systems to provide timely, agile insights creates a bottleneck, slowing down how quickly finance teams can respond to changing business demands and make informed decisions.
Modern Times, Modern Challenges
The Promise of Cloud Solutions
Enter modern technologies, like cloud data warehouses and data lakes (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, Google BigQuery). These systems were designed to solve exactly the kind of challenges finance professionals face.
Their promise? Unified, scalable, and easily accessible data. Picture querying data from multiple sources instantly — no waiting on IT, no juggling countless spreadsheets. These platforms also enable real-time data streaming from operational systems, meeting the growing demand for up-to-the-minute insights.
Modern cloud solutions also bring agility to analysts while meeting IT’s requirements for security and governance. Done right, they can empower finance teams to make faster, more informed decisions.
When the Promise Falls Short
Unfortunately, not every organization fully realizes the potential of these systems. Why? Several hurdles stand in the way.
- Lack of Governance: Without proper governance, cloud solutions can become chaotic. When data isn’t clean, consistent, or reliable, it’s simply not useful to the business.
- Overly Stringent Governance: Conversely, companies can go too far in the other direction. While skepticism toward uncontrolled access is valid, excessive restrictions can render cloud solutions nearly as inaccessible as their older, on-premises counterparts. Finance teams may find themselves locked out of the very data meant to help them.
- IT Overload: Often, IT owns these platforms but doesn’t have the resources to support every business use case. This leaves finance teams feeling disconnected and perpetually underserved when it comes to their data needs.
The result? Even in organizations with modern solutions, the old challenges of data silos and Excel exports persist.
Cracking the Code: How AI Data Analytics Improves Data Access
Alteryx is the Missing Link
How can finance professionals break out of this frustrating cycle? One powerful solution is Alteryx.
Alteryx enables finance teams to automate data workflows by integrating with Cloud Data Warehouses, providing real-time access to financial data without relying on IT-controlled reports.
Here’s what makes it so effective for the Office of Finance:
- No Special Skills Required: Alteryx is built for users without technical expertise. Its drag-and-drop interface allows finance teams to access, manipulate, and analyze data on their own terms.
- Data Connectivity: Alteryx can connect to multiple data sources, from cloud warehouses to on-premises systems, reducing reliance on static Excel extracts.
- Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Tasks like cleaning up data and combining spreadsheets can be automated, saving hours of manual effort.
- Reusable Workflows: Teams can build standardized workflows that ensure consistency and compliance across the organization.
By providing direct connections to the source data, Alteryx eliminates the need for manual extracts and introduces a new level of efficiency to finance processes.
Making Data More Valuable to the Business
Perhaps the most impactful feature of Alteryx is its ability to transform raw data into actionable insights. For example, a finance team might use the platform to automate their monthly forecasting process. By directly pulling from up-to-date source data, they can reduce errors, speed up production time, and deliver more accurate forecasts.
This approach doesn’t just save time; it helps businesses realize the full value of their data. With consistent, reliable workflows in place, organizations can meet governance requirements while enabling finance teams to deliver the insights executives rely on.
Building a Stronger Partnership with IT
While IT invests in cloud data warehouse solutions like Databricks or Snowflake to build scalable, secure, and modern ecosystems, the real value of these platforms only surfaces when the business can effectively use the data to accelerate business insights and drive decisions. When bottlenecks or disconnects arise, the benefits of these systems go unrealized for everyone.
Bridging the Gap with Alteryx
Alteryx acts as a solution that satisfies both needs. For IT, it ensures data governance, control, and system stability. For Finance, it provides the accessibility and agility required to analyze and act on data without cumbersome technical barriers. This balance transforms how both teams operate, creating tangible benefits:
- Freeing IT’s Bandwidth: Instead of fielding constant data requests, IT can set up governed datasets accessible through Alteryx, enabling Finance to self-serve while maintaining oversight.
- Boosting Cloud Investment ROI: Alteryx ensures that modern platforms deliver on their promise, allowing Finance to use real-time capabilities while meeting IT’s security requirements.
- Creating Clear Outcomes: Finance streamlines processes like budgeting or forecasting, leading to faster, more precise decisions. This proves IT’s platforms are driving critical business results.
Alteryx seamlessly connects with Cloud Data Warehouses, allowing finance teams to access and analyze data without IT bottlenecks
Practical Steps to Strengthen Collaboration
Effective teamwork starts with deliberate actions. Here’s how to foster collaboration between Finance and IT for mutual benefit:
- Communicate Business Needs Clearly: Frame data challenges in terms of business outcomes. For example, explain how direct data access shortens budgeting cycles or supports strategic decision-making.
- Propose Collaborative Solutions: Tools like Alteryx should be introduced as enhancements to IT’s work, not alternatives. Highlight how it lightens IT’s load while empowering Finance.
- Align on Shared Goals: Make it clear that collaboration helps achieve shared objectives, like accuracy, speed, and better decision-making. This establishes a joint sense of purpose.
Moving Past the Data Struggles
Accessing the right data at the right time doesn’t need to be a constant struggle. By understanding the root causes of today’s challenges and leveraging tools like Alteryx, finance professionals can finally move past the limitations of Excel extracts.
It’s time to break free from the old way of doing things. Start the conversation with IT, explore modern solutions, and build a stronger data foundation for your organization. Together, you can create a future where data empowers every decision, not holds it back.
Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your data? Explore how Alteryx can transform your processes and bring your data strategy to life.