Causal

Avantages

Causal offers advanced modelling in a user friendly way. The way you can build models, connect to other models and create interactive dashboards (which you can share) is really powerful.

It works a bit different but also very similar compared to spreadsheets. It gives you the power you miss in your spreadsheet with the easy to use variables. When using Causal you instantly wonder: Why can't my spreadsheet do this?

Using multiple scenarios and ranges really help you get a better understanding of the direction your are moving. On top of this you can compare forecasts vs. actuals, which is useful.

Causal has a lot of (hidden) gems and I'm pretty sure we only use 25% of its capabilities.

Finally their support is superb. Always happy to help you, you can book consultants to help you build your model when you are stuck or need some help. Highly recommended.

Inconvénients

Initially we didn't like the speed of Causal. Having a few large models made it quite slow to use. Along the way they did improve a lot in their speed. Seeing continuous updates on this area gives a lot of trust in the product.

Also the interface can quite daunting when working with multiple models and large data sets. When you come back after a while it takes some time to remember how it worked and how everything was tied together. But that said, I think this is also inherent to the complexity of your topic / model.

Sharing different versions of your model can be improved. It's quite easy to share, but it would be nice to freeze certain versions you have send out to investors for example and maybe lock them with a password. The exporting functionality wasn't really powerful, sometimes you want to share a PDF only but the layout and content wasn't satisfying to us.

Avantages

I no longer have to maintain large and complex spreadsheets and I can model new scenarios in seconds.

It's very easy to change variables and see the effects right away.

I've used the software to present business cases to investors and banks with great success, and I do not loose participants in complex spreadsheets no longer.

Inconvénients

There is still plenty of features that could be added to the software and I hope in the future more templates will be availiable.

Avantages

Causal allows for easy integration with accounting software like Quickbooks Online. The customer support has quick communications and really takes user feedback. Originally, The software would only use accounting on a Cash basis and when I informed them of this, they fixed the bug within a few days and allowed for us to bring in our reports from QBO on an Accrual basis.

Inconvénients

My only suggestion would be to have more tutorial videos!

Avantages

The Causal platform is seriously intuitive, with constant product updates only serving to enhance its capability. The product team are always so gracious in receiving feedback and work genuinely to incorporate feature requests into subsequent releases. From a modelling perspective, I love how Causal encourages you to think about models in terms of inputs, calculations and outputs. I also love the way it handles dimensions and scenarios. The ability to link to other data sources is a seriously handy feature. However, the standout feature for me is the presentation mode, which enables you to update inputs live with stakeholders and see the resulting outputs in real time.

Inconvénients

I honestly can't fault the platform. Every bug or frustration seems to be resolved in the following release.

Avantages

The ability to have different scenarios and quickly adjust variables to see how that changes the model. Creating models can be quicker than Excel, but the model would be far more superior in terms of how dynamic it is as well as being able to share with others

Inconvénients

Export functionality is a bit limited currently. Unable to properly export to excel or display graphs/charts in an PowerPoint / Google Slides.

Avantages

The ability to run scenarios in a drag and drop format was one of the greatest benefits. Instead of creating formulas in excel, you simply input the model you'd like to run against and it calculates all the different scenarios.

Inconvénients

There is a learning curve in understanding the interface, the variables, and how they play together. Then the ability to share the model and how that is presented takes some time to fine tune.

Avantages

Easy learning curve - you can be up and running building your own models very quickly. Innovative pre-set formulas and functionality make certain things that are tricky to model in excel very easy in Causal - such as ramp function and cohorts. The visuals workspace allows you to see the results of your model quickly and easily. And the scenario functionality is so useful to play with inputs and display results without having to recreate entire models multiple times.

Inconvénients

Formula writing is different from excel so it takes a bit of getting used to. If you're used to quickly navigating around Excel using shortcuts, it's a bit slower in Causal as you need to use your mouse a lot more in order to click into cells or set up categories.

Avantages

Super quick and easy to build models, far easier to come back and edit them than in Excel or similar tools.

Inconvénients

A bit of a learning curve at the start, and there are a few features that I think are still to come.

Avantages

- Ability to visualize data with interactive inputs
- Ability to input ranges of values for different scenarios
- Working with formulas was 100x easier than Excel. Was able to spot inaccuracies and logical flaws pretty intuitively.

Inconvénients

- The product's still quite new, so there are small bugs here and there in different nooks & crannies of the product. On the plus side, the team's been ultra-responsive to fix these.
- The setup process took some time to wrap my head around how Causal treats cells, formulas, categories, etc; but once I had the basics down, the build time was super fast.

Avantages

Causal makes it effortless to build incredibly complex models. I can create in hours what would have taken me days in Excel.

Inconvénients

The product is early stage, so parts of the Admin UI (like project management) are buggy and underdeveloped.

Avantages

It is very easy to use cloud based software using plain English formulas which allows for quick building of models but offer the ability to build complex models with depth.

It greatly reduces the the risk of error in formulas when compared to typical Excel based modelling, and it also has great features such as present mode which allows stakeholders to play with a model without breaking it.

Inconvénients

Initial setup requires some added time, however that is to be completely expected with software such as this when it comes to importing and building a model for the first time.

Avantages

Now I make financial models 10X faster and better. The way causal re-made how financial modeling works is just genius. I stopped using excel for myself and my clients and now I can really focus on what matters: the inputs of a financial model, not the formulas or the graphs; because Causal manages all that for you.
Also, their customer support is amazing, they are always helping and available. I never feel alone while building my models

Inconvénients

It still has some minor bugs and their front-end could improve. It also takes some time to learn, but once I learned the basics, it's very easy to build new models.

Avantages

Simplicity is great and they continue to add more sophisticated features at a great pace.

Inconvénients

It’s somewhat limited in its capacity in certain situations. They have a couple of use cases in mind which makes things somewhat difficult to apply to my unique case.

Avantages

Causal is a powerful tool, well built, and allows you to build an impressive looking dashboard with ease. The dashboards are very aesthetically beautiful and sleek.

Inconvénients

There is a steep learning curve on how to use the software, but once you get it (a lot of similar functions to excel), then it becomes a very powerful tool to use.

Avantages

It's really easy-to-use to build a model, visualize it, edit it.

Inconvénients

I wish I could import an Excel file and automatically have it build the model. It does take some time to build the model initially.

Avantages

I like how straightforward and easy it is to use. Whenever a function is missing or help is needed, their support team is always ready to help us by being incredibly responsive.

Inconvénients

If the model is set up in an inefficient way it can become incredibly slow.

Avantages

The visualizations are very handy as are the data links which allow for models to always incorporate the most recent historical data

Inconvénients

A bit of a learning curve especially when sharing a Causal model with new users

Avantages

Causal has made it really easy to make forecast and give us a good idea where we are as a company for our own action items. On top of that, we also use it for showing our investors.

Inconvénients

The software is so complex, at first it was difficult to learn everything that it could do and how to use it best.