CFOs often underestimate the hidden costs of Excel-based planning. Beyond the obvious time drain (finance teams spending 60-80% of their time on data consolidation instead of analysis), spreadsheet planning carries significant risks: version control errors that affect board reports, broken formula links that corrupt forecasts, limited audit trails that concern auditors, inability to perform real-time scenario analysis during strategic discussions, and manual processes that don’t scale with business growth or M&A activity. The opportunity cost of delayed strategic decisions often exceeds the implementation investment within months.