Every CPM vendor claims to have the ‘best’ software for exactly your FP&A requirements – but what really makes the difference is something else.
FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) departments often struggle with the selection of the “right” CPM (Corporate Performance Management) solution lives up to the expectations and requirements. Instead of trying to find differentiators in technical details of all the products out there, we suggest taking the fast track: define challenging usecases, covering the key value drivers of your specific business – and pick the underlying technology accordingly.
Approach to easier selection of FP&A software.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a neutral advisor who knows how to work with the bits and pieces, mostly referred to as cubes and functions of such software?
And wouldn’t it even be better to work with somebody who knows how to translate business requirements like forecasts, sales and operations, project- and program control in an intuitive, flexible, and comprehensive frontend – without the flaws of spreadsheets?
Rather than asking another analyst company, comparing different software products on a theoretical base, without having practical experience with the respective technology?
Exactly this was our idea when we listened to so many FP&A experts and their pains at several summits and events. As we know the CPM-Software market inside out, it is easy for us to select the best-fit CPM software for every usecase. We experienced in a lot of projects, that we can better fulfil the requirements of our clients and prospects without being tied to one specific software vendor. Thus, we use different market leading software* products to best fulfil our client’s requirements.
What’s better? Standardized solutions or a solution built from scratch?
Some CPM tools would be flexible enough to address typical FP&A requirements building everything from scratch. Others are specializing in dedicated industries or usecases, typically lacking flexibility. Both approaches are time-consuming, often enough error prone and require a lot of resources from your FP&A team – throughout AND after implementation.
Thus, we clearly recommend pre-defined, but easy to adopt CPM solutions to combine the best of the two worlds.
Any successful implementation of FP&A software resides on two pillars.
Project success is based on two pillars: firstly, pre-built, but still flexible CPM-software solutions offering the best mix of predefined standard CPM functionality and flexibility.
And secondly? A highly skilled consulting team, experienced in the areas of CPM and BI, going the extra mile. But how can you be sure, that you have/will get a consulting team with extra power?
This is an easy one – you can experience it in the first demo you request. This demo should include YOUR planning / reporting structures and other familiar data, so that you can assess the benefit of the new planning, reporting, budgeting, and analysis tool. This should also include the presentation of the consultants staffed on the project. A lot of software vendors present standard presales cases in their demos – or promise to assign senior people to a project, whereas less experienced consultants would later on attempt to deliver most of the project.
FP&A software – why it is a key tool for Senior Management.
Professional FP&A software is key for senior managers. Modern FP&A software allows decision makers analyze alle relevant data in real time, at the required granular level, and constantly access all opportunities and risks for the company. Most managers are very positively surprised about the deep, new data insights.
How you benefit using a state-of-the-art FP&A solution:
- Integration of all your business data (ERP, CRM, etc.) – work on one seamlessly connected platform
- choose whether you want to work web based or within a native Excel interface
- start with your favourite module / business requirement and expand as and when you like e.g. S&OP, Project/Program Management, Consolidation up to Integrated Business Planning,
- cooperate seamlessly with all business departments and external experts
- keep using the tool you know (Excel) while gaining a central database, process automation and integrated AI
- use appealing interactive dashboards and ad-hoc reporting tools for your meetings.
- work on any device or with any browser
See how integrated planning can work within the context of your own organization. Experience an informative Demo with meaningful figures tailored to your requirements. With practical example, use cases and references. Especially in times of crisis it is more likely to push through a test project.
*(see e.g. the Magic Quadrant for Cloud FP&A Solutions 2020)
