Cisco Performs the Virtual Close Technology has dramatically shortened the closing process. Recent surveys have reported that the average company now takes only six to seven days to close, rather than the previous 20 days. But a few companies do much better. Cisco Systems can perform a "virtual close"- closing within 24 hours on any day in the quarter. The same is true at Lockheed Martin Corp., which improved its closing time by 85% in just the last few years. Not very long ago, it took 14 to 16 days. Managers at these companies emphasize that this increased speed has not reduced the accuracy and completeness of the data. This is not just showing off. Knowing exactly where you are financially all of the time allows the company to respond faster than its competitors. It also means that the hundreds of people who used to spend 10 to 20 days a quarter tracking transactions can now be more usefully employed on things such as mining data for business intelligence to find new business opportunities.

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