When it comes to business success, having a clear financial strategy is as essential as maintaining a healthy and aligned spine. The Joint Chiropractic, a leader in chiropractic care with over 900 locations across the United States, recognized this need and sought a financial planning solution that could keep pace with its rapid growth.
Founded in 1999, The Joint Chiropractic set out to revolutionize the chiropractic industry by making care more accessible, affordable, and consumer-friendly. Their mission was to improve people’s quality of life by making chiropractic care a part of their routine.
The company's innovative approach includes a no-appointment policy, extended hours, and a membership model that eliminates the need for insurance, thus making chiropractic care more convenient and affordable. This unique business model has not only attracted a broad patient base but also entrepreneurs and chiropractors interested in franchise opportunities.
The Joint has experienced significant growth. In 2024 alone, The Joint treated over 14 million patients, solidifying its position as a leader in the $20 billion chiropractic industry.
As The Joint continued to grow, managing financial planning for such a large and rapidly expanding franchise became increasingly complex. To keep up, the company needed a scalable, flexible, and efficient financial planning system—one that could replace its outdated Excel-based processes and support its long-term success. Enter Adaptive Planning—a powerful tool that has helped The Joint streamline financial processes, improve forecasting, and confidently plan for the future.
The Challenge: A Painfully Slow Process
Prior to the implementation of Workday Adaptive Planning, The Joint relied heavily on Excel for budgeting and forecasting. While Excel is a well-known tool, it presented several challenges. The files were massive, which made them slow to open, as well as prone to error—making the planning process cumbersome and extremely time-consuming.
"As the Joint continued to expand, the limitations of Excel became more apparent. Members of the financial team found themselves spending a considerable amount of their time managing large, sluggish tasks. The inefficiencies were no longer merely an inconvenience—they were actively hindering strategic decision-making. It became clear that a more robust, scalable solution was necessary to keep up with the company’s rapid growth," explained Jon Rivkin the company’s Financial Manager.
Given the scale of The Joint's operations—with over 900 locations, a high volume of financial data, and multiple stakeholders involved—Excel simply couldn't keep up with the amount of data. Version control issues arose as different team members worked on separate files, leading to discrepancies and inefficiencies.
During that time, Jon Rivkin joined The Joint's financial team. Five years later, he has progressed in his role and presently holds the title of Financial Manager at The Joint.
Jon described the frustrations the financial team experienced at the time: "We were dealing with massive Excel files that took forever to open. Version control was a constant issue, and collaborating across different files led to inconsistencies. It was clear we needed a more efficient solution."
The Solution: Workday Adaptive Planning Brings Relief
To alleviate these financial growing pains, The Joint turned to Workday Adaptive Planning, a cloud-based financial planning and analysis tool designed to improve budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. Unlike static spreadsheets, Workday Adaptive Planning provides real-time data, automation capabilities, and enhanced collaboration, making it an ideal solution for growing businesses that need greater flexibility and accuracy in their financial planning.
One of the system's standout benefits is its flexibility. With support from RKL eSolutions, Jon and the team members were able to customize the platform to fit their specific needs. They took features they appreciated in Excel and implemented them within Workday Adaptive Planning, ensuring a smooth transition and a system tailored to their workflow.
Jon also highlighted how he could design sheets to look exactly how he wanted, which made the shift from Excel much easier. As he put it, "One of the biggest benefits was being able to make Workday Adaptive Planning work for us. We could structure the sheets in a way that felt intuitive and familiar, while still taking advantage of its automation and forecasting capabilities."
The ability to adapt the tool to their preferred way of working meant that the finance team could maintain a familiar structure while gaining significant efficiency improvements.
Implementation: Quick and Effective
Timing is everything, and The Joint experienced a swift and seamless implementation of Workday Adaptive Planning.
The Joint’s transition to Workday Adaptive Planning was carefully managed to ensure minimal disruption to daily operations.
A key factor in the smooth transition was the hands-on support from RKL eSolutions. Jon emphasized how their expertise made it easy to customize the system, ensuring that it not only met The Joint’s business requirements but also maintained a familiar structure for users. "The RKL eSolutions team was fantastic. They really took the time to understand what we needed, and they worked with us to make sure that Workday Adaptive Planning was set up in a way that made sense for us. Whenever we had a question or needed adjustments; they were right there to help,” said Jon.
The implementation process took approximately four months, allowing them to test and refine workflows before going fully live. Training sessions were conducted to help the team navigate the new system, and RKL remained available for ongoing adjustments and support. By the time the system went live, the finance team was confident in using Workday Adaptive Planning for budgeting, forecasting, and reporting—ushering in a new era of efficiency and strategic financial management.
The transition eliminated the frustration of long file load times and reduced the risk of data inconsistencies. This allowed them to focus on strategic decision-making rather than spreadsheet management.
