Let your data do the planning 

You already have the information you need to make your next financial move. Every payment, every receipt, every month-end report tells a story about how your business operates. The problem is that most teams can’t see the full picture when it matters most. 

Budgets are built before the data is complete. Forecasts rely on instinct rather than evidence. And planning season turns into a scramble to piece together spend reports from across the business. 

Why data is your best planning partner 

The best predictor of the future is the past. For finance teams, that’s especially true.  

Deloitte Finance Trends 2026 report shows a shift toward what it calls “evidence-led planning,” using real spending data to inform future decisions.  

Gartner’s 2026 CFO Agenda echoes this. Leaders who link plans directly to past performance are faster to adjust and more confident when conditions change. 

So, what’s stopping businesses from using their data as the basis for their forecast models? 

• Small teams often have too little data: limited visibility into where spend happens, and too much reliance on manual tracking or incomplete reports. 

• Larger organisations face the opposite challenge — too much data, spread across finance, procurement, and operations tools that don’t speak to each other. 

But the problem isn’t the data itself. It’s the disconnection.  

How to shift from data collection to data connection 

Without a single source of truth, finance teams spend more time chasing numbers than analysing them. Valuable insights get buried in spreadsheets, systems don’t sync, and by the time reports are ready, the moment for action has passed.  

The key to better planning is making the data you already have work harder. Start by connecting the dots between spend, people, and performance. When that information lives in one place, patterns begin to emerge.  

Here’s how high-performing finance teams make the shift: 

• Automate data capture 
  Eliminate manual expense reports and late receipts. When transactions and approvals happen in real time, your data stays accurate from the start.  

• Bring all spend into one view 
  Consolidate card payments, reimbursements, subscriptions, and budgets across teams and departments. With a unified view, finance can see where money flows and where it gets stuck.  

• Turn visibility into insight 
  Once data is connected, you can start asking better questions: Where did costs rise unexpectedly? Which teams deliver the highest return per pound spent? What trends should shape next year’s plan?  

• Spot drift and build driver-based plans 
  For smaller finance teams, data connection offers agility. Use your live spend data to track how actuals diverge from plan in real time, spotting “drift” early.  

• Scale insight with AI and enterprise-wide integration 
  In larger organisations, connected data means connecting systems — not just spreadsheets. Start by linking your T&E, procurement, and card data so you can see total company spend in one view. Then, use AI or analytics tools to highlight patterns humans might miss. 

When spend data is connected, every decision becomes faster, sharper, and more grounded. 

How Soldo helps you get there 

The numbers you reconcile every month already hold the insight you need to plan smarter, not harder. When that data is connected and easy to interpret, your business can move from reacting to what’s happened to preparing for what’s next.  

Soldo brings together company-wide spending information in one place, automatically linking every transaction to the person, team, or project behind it. 

That means you can: 

• See real-time spending across departments and cards. 

• Categorise and analyse costs instantly, without chasing receipts. 

• Feed clean, structured data directly into your forecasts and budgeting tools. 

You already have the information you need to make better decisions. Now, you have the right way to use it.