For mid-market businesses, cash flow forecasting is more than a routine finance function—it’s a strategic necessity. Yet many organizations continue to rely on spreadsheets for this mission-critical task. This article explores the significant opportunity costs, inefficiencies, and risks associated with spreadsheet-based forecasting, while demonstrating the measurable ROI of adopting a purpose-built solution like Dryrun.
Executive Overview: Percentages First
In businesses ranging from $50M–$500M in annual revenue, spreadsheets cost organizations between 2.0% and 5.0% of revenue through a combination of lost revenue and increased operational costs. Here’s how the numbers break down:
Lost Revenue: 2.4% (Average)
- Missed Strategic Opportunities: 1.2%
- Delayed Decision-Making: 0.5%
- Lost Early Payment Discounts: 0.3%
- Stockouts & Fulfillment Delays: 0.4%
Increased Costs: 2.3% (Average)
- Labor Inefficiency: 0.2%
- Emergency Borrowing: 0.3%
- Excess Cash Buffering: 0.4%
- Forecasting Errors & Rework: 0.15%
- Inventory Overruns: 0.2%
- Misaligned Payroll/Hiring: 0.15%
- Treasury & FX Inefficiencies: 0.1%
Combined total impact: 4.7% of revenue lost annually due to the limitations of spreadsheet-based forecasting.
How Dryrun Reclaims That Value
Dryrun is a purpose-built platform designed for finance teams to replace spreadsheets with real-time, scenario-driven, collaborative cash flow forecasting and management.
Reclaimed Revenue: 1.8% (Average)
- Strategic Execution: 0.9%
- Faster Decision-Making: 0.4%
- Optimized Terms & Discounts: 0.2%
- Improved Fulfillment: 0.3%
Reduced Costs: 1.5% (Average)
- Finance Team Productivity: 0.2%
- Avoided Emergency Borrowing: 0.3%
- Smarter Capital Deployment: 0.4%
- Error & Rework Reduction: 0.15%
- Lean Procurement: 0.2%
- Workforce Planning Alignment: 0.15%
- Treasury & FX Optimization: 0.1%
Total ROI: 3.3% of annual revenue on average—often a 30x+ return on software investment.
The CFO’s Challenge
Mid-market CFOs operate in an increasingly complex environment: multi-entity structures, seasonal swings, FX exposure, and rising interest rates all increase the volatility and uncertainty in financial operations.
Spreadsheets, while familiar, cannot keep pace:
- They consume time and rely heavily on manual processes.
- They introduce risk through broken formulas, version sprawl, and disconnected data.
- They obscure insight, making it difficult for leadership to make timely and confident decisions.
What Dryrun Does Differently
Dryrun provides CFOs with the tools to:
- Forecast cash flow across weeks, months, and scenarios
- Model what-if conditions to test impacts of hiring, price changes, supply disruptions, and more
- Collaborate with teams in a single platform synced with live ERP and accounting data
- Deliver reports that are clear, interactive, and designed for executive action
The result? Reclaimed time, better strategic decisions, lower borrowing needs, and clearer visibility.
Case Study: $50M Business Example
Let’s apply this to a $50M business that previously relied on spreadsheets:
Spreadsheet Impact
- Estimated Revenue Lost: 2.4% = $1,200,000
- Estimated Costs Increased: 2.3% = $1,150,000
- Total Annual Loss: $2,350,000
With Dryrun
- Reclaimed Revenue: 1.8% = $900,000
- Reduced Costs: 1.5% = $750,000
- Total ROI: $1,650,000
- Software Cost Estimate: $50,000/year
- ROI Multiple: 33x
Conclusion
Spreadsheets are holding CFOs back. They are inefficient, error-prone, and increasingly disconnected from the pace and complexity of modern business. The cost is not just in lost hours—it’s in lost growth, excess borrowing, delayed action, and diminished confidence from leadership.
Dryrun solves this by giving finance teams a tool purpose-built for cash flow forecasting, cash flow management, and scenario modeling. It provides the speed, accuracy, and visibility needed to support strategic decision-making.
For mid-sized businesses, switching to Dryrun doesn’t just make life easier—it unlocks real, measurable financial performance.
Ready to rethink your forecasting?
Learn more at dryrun.com
