Machine learning (ML) has the potential to revolutionize Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) by providing organizations with real-time insights and predictive capabilities across planning and forecasting processes.  With the ability to process vast amounts of data, ML algorithms can help organizations identify patterns, trends and relationships that would otherwise go unnoticed.  And as the technology continues to evolve and improve, even greater benefits are likely to emerge in the future as Finance leverages the power of ML to achieve financial goals.

Join us as we examine Sensible ML for EPM – Future of Finance at Your Fingertips.

The Shift to Intelligent Finance

For CFOs, whether artificial intelligence (AI) and ML will play a role across enterprise planning processes is no longer a question.  Today, the question instead focuses on how to operationalize ML in ways that return optimal results and scale.  The answer is where things get tricky.

Why?  Business agility is critical in the rapidly changing world of planning.  To think fast and move first, organizations must overcome challenges spanning the need to rapidly grow the business, accurately predict future demand, anticipate unforeseen market circumstances and more.  Yet the increasing volumes of data across the organization make it difficult for decision-makers to zero in on the necessary data and extrapolate the proper insights to positively impact planning cycles and outcomes.  Further exacerbating the problem, many advanced analytics processes and tools only leverage high-level historical data, forcing decision-makers to re-forecast from scratch whenever unforeseeable market shifts hit.

But with AI and ML, business analysts can analyze and correlate the most relevant internal/external variables.  And the variables then contribute to forecasting accuracy and performance across the Sales, Supply Chain, HR and Marketing processes that comprise financial plans and results.

Those dynamics underscore why now is the time for Intelligent Finance.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll share a four-part blog series discussing the path toward ML-powered intelligent planning.  Here’s a sneak peek at the key topics in our Sensible ML for EPM series:

• Part 1:  4 Driving Forces for Change.  These forces have the potential to accelerate ML and move organizations away from descriptive and diagnostic analytics (explaining what happened and why) and toward predictive and prescriptive analytics
• Part 2:  Increase Accuracy and Transparency.  Today more than ever, organizations are looking to become more agile, accurate and transparent with their financial plans to stay competitive.  And Sensible ML can help.  It allows input from users closer to the business to infuse business intuition into the model, which can increase accuracy and ensure all the available information is considered. (see figure 1)

• Part 3:  Key Capabilities for Intelligent Planning.  Sensible ML is unlike “most” predictive analytics forecasting capabilities (looking at prior results and statistics and generating forecasts based on what happened in the past).  Specifically, Sensible MLhas the capability to not only look at prior results but also then take on additional business intuition – such as events, pricing, competitive information and weather – to help drive more precise/robust forecasting.
• Part 4:  Customer Success Stories.  Every customer must be a reference and a success.  OneStream’s mission statement drives everything we do.  Taking a deeper look into customers who have reaped the benefits of leveraging Sensible ML can help any organization gain true predictive insights.

Regardless of where you are in your Finance journey, our Sensible ML for EPM series is designed to share insights from the experience of OneStream’s team of industry experts.  We recognize, of course, that every organization is unique – so please assess what’s most important to you based on the specific needs of your organization.

Conclusion

The aspiration of ML-powered plans is nothing new.  But to remain competitive amid the increasing pace of change and technology disruption, Finance leaders must think differently to finally conquer the complexities inherent in traditional enterprise planning.  ML has the potential to greatly improve EPM by providing organizations with real-time insights and predictive analytics.  However, organizations must overcome challenges (e.g., ensuring good data quality and selecting the right ML algorithm) to achieve success.  As ML continues to evolve, increasingly more organizations are likely to leverage its power to drive better financial and operational outcomes.

Several challenges lie ahead for organizations of all sizes, but one of the most important decisions will be implementing the right ML solution – one that can effectively align all aspects of planning and elevate the organization toward its strategic goals.  Sensible ML answers that call.  It brings power and sophistication to organizations to drive transparency and increase the velocity of forecasting processes with unprecedented transparency and alignment to business performance.

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To learn more about the value of Sensible ML, download our whitepaper titled “Sensible Machine Learning for CPM – Future Finance at Your Fingertips” by clicking here.  And don’t forget to tune in for additional posts from our machine learning blog series!

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As organizations begin their evaluations of potential enterprise performance management (EPM) software vendors, industry analyst reports are a great resource for identifying viable solutions.  Some industry analyst reports are based on analyst opinions of the various vendors built through briefings, demonstrations, and customer references.  Others are based more on customer surveys and reviews, providing a clear assessment of how actual customers view the software vendor and the value they are getting from their solutions. This is often referred to as the “wisdom of crowds.”

A good example of an industry analyst report that is driven mostly by customer reviews is the recently published Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds® 2022 Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Market Study.

Leveraging the Collective Wisdom of Crowds

The 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® EPM Market Study builds on the previous seven years of Enterprise Planning and EPM Market Studies published by Dresner Advisory and reflects the shift in the market towards a more holistic approach to performance management vs. relying on individual point solutions.

According to Dresner Advisory, an enterprise performance management system is a key element of performance management. It allows an organization to plan for the impact of various internal and external factors on its future performance and business outcomes. This includes strategic, operational, and financial planning and forecasting. EPM systems also include reporting and analytics capabilities that allow organizations to set goals and objectives and monitor performance against those objectives.

EPM software systems can vary significantly in complexity and automation capabilities, from relatively straightforward spreadsheet replacements to sophisticated multi-user systems that support collaborative planning, provide a wide range of analytics, and use advanced technologies such as in-memory computing and machine learning

What’s New in Enterprise Performance Management?

This year’s report highlighted several key market trends, including the following:

• Enterprise performance management remains an important technology. In 2022 current usage of EPM solutions increased to 54 percent, up from 51 percent in 2021, and the percentage of respondents rating EPM as critically important is up by 3 percent to nearly 25 percent.
• EPM adoption skews towards large and very large organizations, but small organizations have become more open to adopting enterprise performance management (44 percent are currently evaluating or may use it in the future, up from 37 percent in 2021).
• The 2021 data show a continuing trend toward sourcing of enterprise performance management solutions from specialist vendors regardless of their affiliation with any ERP vendor, up to nearly 49 percent in 2021.
• While ERP vendors aggressively push their EPM solutions, only 10 percent of respondents prefer to source enterprise performance management from their ERP vendor, whereas 31 percent consider all types of vendors and 59 percent prefer to source these capabilities from a specialist enterprise performance management vendor.
• The top three planning priorities remained unchanged from 2021 (annual financial budgets, cash-flow forecasting, and headcount planning), while strategic planning continued its rise up the rankings, moving up to the fourth place.
• Frequency of forecasting has increased with forty-three percent of respondents increased the frequency of forecasting in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and 41 percent focused more on key performance indicators and business drivers.
• Resistance to AI-based forecasting and planning continues its slow downward trend, dropping slightly by 1 percent. However, most respondents remain undecided.
• Respondents prefer cloud enterprise performance management solutions compared to on-premises deployment.

OneStream Once Again Recognized as a Leader

What’s unique about this study is that the results are based 100% on surveys of customers using EPM software.  Vendors are evaluated based on 33 criteria covering:

• Sales/Acquisition Experience
• Value for Price
• Quality and Usefulness of Product
• Quality of Technical Support
• Quality and Value of Consulting Services
• Vendor Integrity
• Whether Vendor is Recommended

This was OneStream’s fifth year of inclusion in the Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds Study and, once again, the results were outstanding.  Each vendor was evaluated on 33 criteria, and as you can see in the spider chart below, OneStream Software is substantially above the overall sample for all measures, best in class for 9 measures and we received a perfect “5” recommend score.

Dresner Advisory provides two models to help clients understand the EPM market.  Their Customer Experience Model positions vendors based on their combined scores on Product/Technology vs. Sales and Service metrics on two axes, positioning vendors into one of four quadrants.

Their Vendor Credibility Model considers how customers “feel” about their vendor, plotting value for the price paid against the integrity and recommending measures, creating a “confidence” dimension. The upper-right quadrant in both models contains the highest-scoring vendors, and those considered leaders in customer experience and vendor credibility.

Based on our scores, OneStream was positioned as an Overall Leader in both the Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility models.   Here’s a view of how the various vendors are positioned in the Customer Experience model.

Commenting on OneStream’s results in the study, Howard Dresner, Founder and Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services said, “In 2022, OneStream received outstanding results across virtually all measures and is an Overall leader in the Customer Experience Model and Vendor Credibility Models. Customers rank the company best in class for sales professionalism, responsiveness, flexibility/accommodation and business practices, product robustness/sophistication of technology, reliability of technology, integration of components within product, ease of upgrade/migration to new versions, and technical support time to resolve problems and responsiveness. Additionally, it maintains a perfect recommend score. We applaud OneStream on their 2022 rankings and their continued recognition in our annual market survey.”

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Making every customer a reference, one success at a time is the mission of OneStream Software and is our top priority companywide. Being named a leader in Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility by Dresner Advisory Services validates our approach and recognizes the ability of OneStream to address the advanced planning and performance management requirements of global enterprises.

To learn more, download a copy of the 2022 Dresner Advisory Enterprise Performance Management  Market Study.

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The Oracle Hyperion enterprise performance management (EPM) applications have been in the market for over 20 years and have delivered a great deal of value for many customers.  But as demand for EPM applications has shifted to the cloud, Oracle has reduced its investment in the Hyperion on-premise applications and is encouraging customers to migrate to the Oracle EPM Cloud applications.

This is creating a critical decision point for Hyperion EPM customers and is begging the answer to several questions. What is the future of Hyperion EPM?  Will the Oracle EPM Cloud applications meet my needs and what will it cost to upgrade?  What other options are available in the market?  Read on to learn the answers to these questions.

End of the Road for Oracle Hyperion Applications

Thousands of organizations around the world are relying on multiple Oracle Hyperion EPM applications to support their critical finance processes.  This includes products such as Hyperion Financial Management, Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Strategic Finance, Hyperion Profitability, Cost Management, and others. These were market-leading products for many years, and customers have received great value from them.  However, the fragmented nature of these products has created extra work and costs, including the following:

• Multiple points of maintenance
• Multiple points of data integration
• Time spent synching and reconciling data across applications
• High costs of ownership and upgrades

In addition, over the past few years, there has been limited innovation and declining support for these legacy products.  And now, with the end of support having passed on 12/31/21 for older versions of these products – we have reached a decision point for Hyperion customers.  The proverbial “fork in the road.”

Which path will you choose? Let’s look at the options available.

Path #1 – Upgrade to Oracle Hyperion EPM 11.2

The first option for customers facing the end of support for Hyperion 11.1.2.4 or older versions is to upgrade to Oracle Hyperion EPM 11.2. Oracle has communicated that customers upgrading to this version of the Hyperion applications will be supported through 2031. However, very little innovation is expected on these products, and Oracle has already communicated that some modules were deprecated and are no longer supported.

Path #2 – Convert to Oracle EPM Cloud

The second option is to convert to Oracle EPM Cloud versions of the on-premise Hyperion applications. The main advantages here are that moving to the cloud removes the infrastructure and IT support requirements, and upgrades to new releases are easier. However, this path basically amounts to a re-implementation of the applications, which are still fragmented, with multiple points of maintenance and data integration. And in some cases, the EPM Cloud applications offer more limited functionality than was provided in the on-premise Hyperion applications. Does anyone really want to go backward in functionality?

Path #3 – Convert to Another Solution

The third option is to convert to another solution – such as OneStream. While there will certainly be some time, effort, and costs required here – over 400 former Oracle Hyperion customers have converted to OneStream and have never looked back. Why? Because OneStream is a unified platform that replaces multiple Hyperion applications – so it’s easier to use and maintain and reduces total cost of ownership. And OneStream is “function-forward,” meaning customers get more advanced capabilities than they had before.

The Power of an Intelligent Finance Platform

With over 900 organizations and more than 160,000 users globally, OneStream has been recognized as a market leader by IT industry analyst firms such as Gartner, IDC, Dresner Advisory Services, Nucleus Research, and others and has received the Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice recognition in both Cloud Financial Close and Cloud FP&A solutions.

Our customers are using OneStream for planning, financial close & consolidation, reporting, analytics, account reconciliations, and more. In fact, 70% of our customers replaced multiple legacy applications such as Oracle Hyperion, SAP BPC, and IBM Cognos.

These organizations are achieving many benefits, including the following:

1. Reduced Technical Debt – Lower cost of ownership by eliminating multiple legacy applications and manual processes.
2. Increased Efficiency – average improvements of 39% in financial close and consolidation, 74% in reporting, and 32% in planning and budgeting – freeing up FTEs to focus on more value-added tasks.
3. Improved Effectiveness – The impact on the business of making faster, more informed decisions.

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With the end-of-life looming, it’s a critical decision point for Hyperion EPM customers.  What is the future of Hyperion?  For customers who elect to upgrade to Oracle Hyperion 11.2 the future means you can get support, but limited innovation, which means limited ability to digitally transform your Finance operations.  Migrating to Oracle EPM Cloud is an option, but buyer beware, you’ll face a lot of the same challenges that you face in managing and maintaining multiple Hyperion on-premise applications.

Check out our white paper titled “Why Now is the Time to Convert From Oracle Hyperion Applications” to learn why over 400 organizations have chosen to convert from Oracle Hyperion to OneStream’s unified CPM software platform. And contact OneStream if you would like a conversion assessment, where our team of experts will help you perform an ROI analysis of converting from Oracle Hyperion to OneStream.

Download the White Paper

Oracle Hyperion enterprise performance management (EPM) applications have led the market for several years, providing trusted and reliable capabilities to organizations worldwide. These applications were developed one by one to form what is largely known as the Oracle Hyperion EPM Suite.

In the suite, the key EPM processes – such as financial consolidation, planning, financial reporting and others – were provided in separate applications and reference data, and data would be moved between applications via integrations. To give the appearance of a suite, several shared services were created to handle reference data uploads and synchronization along with user creation and security across the products.

But make no mistake, despite ‘integrations’ – the products are very much fragmented – and so is the user experience for Finance teams at large, sophisticated organizations.

Oracle is now pushing their customers towards an inflection point.

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The terms enterprise performance management (EPM) and corporate performance management (CPM) have been in use in the market for at least 20 years.  These terms are both used to describe a similar set of management processes, although there are some subtle differences in the intended meaning and scope of these processes and the software used to support them.  What is EPM and how does it differ from CPM? Read on to learn more.

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Defined 

According to IT industry research firm Gartner’s EPM definition: “Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is the process of monitoring performance across the enterprise with the goal of improving business performance.”   While monitoring performance across the enterprise is part of EPM, I’ve always preferred to think about EPM more broadly.  In my view, EPM is a set of management processes and a system designed to help organizations achieve their financial objectives by linking their strategies to plans and execution in a continuous management cycle.

These management processes include the following:  Goal Setting, Modeling, Planning, Financial Close & Consolidation, Reporting, and Analysis.  The continuous management cycle and relationship of these processes can be seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 – The Performance Management Cycle 

How Does EPM Compare to ERP Systems? 

An EPM system integrates and analyzes data from many sources, including, but not limited to, ERP systems, HCM, CRM, and Supply Chain applications, data warehouses, and also cloud and external data sources.  And this brings up an important point and differentiator about EPM vs. ERP and other enterprise systems.  While ERP’s and other systems help organizations “run the business”, EPM systems help organizations “manage the business.”

What does that mean?  What it means is that EPM software systems provide management with data analytics and insights across multiple operational systems and processes (see Figure 2). EPM solutions provide agility in forecasting and strategic planning, reporting, and decision-making.  And they help organizations create alignment across the enterprise.

Figure 2 – EPM/CPM Systems Integrate Multiple ERP Systems 

How Does EPM Compare to CPM?  

So now you might be asking, how does enterprise performance management (EPM) differ from corporate performance management (CPM)?  The answer is – they are essentially the same.  And for that matter so are terms such as business performance management (BPM) and financial performance management (FPM).

The latter term, FPM, is by nature more aligned to the Finance function, and CPM sounds more aligned to managing “corporate” functions.  The EPM term was clearly intended to sound broader, encompassing management processes across the enterprise. But again, these terms are used synonymously in practice depending on the organization, and especially by different software vendors.

Alternative Software Approaches to EPM

This brings us to the next topic – what type of software is available to support EPM?  The answer is that there are basically three alternative enterprise performance management software approaches here:

• Spreadsheets
• GL/ERP Systems
• Purpose-Built EPM Applications

Spreadsheets – are the “go-to” EPM solution for many Finance processes and can suffice in a small enterprise.  But organizations often outgrow the spreadsheet approach to budgeting and planning, and they don’t provide adequate controls and audit trails when used for financial consolidation and reporting.

GL/ERP Systems – the general ledger module found in most ERP systems does provide the ability to capture budgets, produce financial statements, and comparisons of actuals vs. budget.  But these EPM products aren’t designed to support the budget data collection process or consolidate financial results from multiple GL/ERP systems.  And the management reporting capabilities are limited in GL/ERP systems.

Purpose-Built EPM Applications – these applications have been available in the market for over 20 years and are the preferred approach to supporting EPM processes in organizations that have complexity that cannot be handled by the spreadsheet approach.  They provide the ability to integrate data from multiple GL/ERP systems and have specific automation functionality required to support EPM processes such as budgeting & planning, financial close and consolidation, financial and management reporting, and various types of analysis including risk and impact analysis.

While purpose-built EPM applications were initially delivered as on-premise software, these applications are now available as cloud-deployed solutions with subscription pricing, also known as software as a service (SaaS).  One caveat to be aware of is that not all EPM applications are created equally. Some are focused only on budgeting and planning, others only on financial close.  And some vendors provide multiple applications to support the various management processes while others support them through a single EPM tool or platform.

Figure 3 – OneStream’s Unified Intelligent Finance Platform 

For example, OneStream Software provides a single, unified platform (see figure 3) that supports all the EPM processes in the management cycle described earlier in this article.  Customers who adopt OneStream are typically replacing spreadsheets they have outgrown, multiple legacy EPM applications, or cloud-based point solutions.

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Whether you call it EPM, CPM, or some other term – a continuous management process that helps organizations link their strategies to their plans and execution is essential to creating and sustaining the corporate agility required to navigate rapidly-changing business and economic conditions.  Spreadsheets and email can support the EPM needs of small enterprises, but purpose-built EPM software applications are becoming the preferred approach for most mid-sized to large enterprises with any level of complexity.

To learn more about EPM software and how various vendors in the market compare, download the Dresner Advisory 2021 EPM Market Survey report.

Contact us to learn more about the benefits of OneStream’s unified EPM software for your company.

Like all things that change over time, the corporate performance management (CPM) or enterprise performance management (EPM) landscape has been through several key changes.  Many of you may remember the consolidation of smaller niche vendors nearly 15 years ago when OutlookSoft, Cartesis, Hyperion, Cognos and TM1, to name a few, were swallowed up by those mega-vendors of today – SAP, Oracle and IBM.   The critical importance of CPM in Finance Transformation continues to grow.

With increasing market demand for Finance Transformation, newer CPM vendors have since flourished alongside continual market growth and increasingly more organisations recognising the need for such solutions.  Indeed, the mega-vendors now have multiple areas of focus, outside of CPM, and have probably found themselves with declining CPM businesses, which only contribute a small percentage of mega-vendors’ overall revenues.

Not surprisingly, then, there is a natural push from legacy vendors to divert focus and attention towards full enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM), customer experience and/or supply chain opportunities to drive higher revenue and secure more of those larger deals.  But there is a problem with that.  Sometimes this approach dilutes the value of CPM, which is definitely not ideal.

De-Emphasising CPM Dilutes Finance Transformation

De-emphasising CPM ultimately has a negative effect.  The result?  The dilution of Finance Transformation.  Specifically, what has transpired is the collapse of the lines between ERP and CPM businesses as a result of reallocating investments away from delivering true innovation.  Instead, the focus has been on aligning the look and feel of the ERP and CPM solutions, creating a perception that CPM and ERP are the same, or at least interchangeable.

Legacy vendors are also willing to further dilute the value of CPM/EPM by heavily discounting CPM into multi-million-dollar ERP, HCM and supply chain software deals.  While this approach might work for IT groups intent on using a single vendor, potential consequences abound.  Here are just a few ways de-emphasising CPM impacts Finance teams:

• Non-technical Finance teams and often IT may not understand the key differences between ERP and CPM solutions.
• ERP investments may get prioritized over CPM, adding years of implementation and change management before any “new” transformation is even delivered to already-taxed Finance teams.
• IT groups may force Finance teams to compromise their requirements with unproven, fragmented CPM tools – adding risk, cost and complexity into key CPM process right when Finance teams must conquer complexity.

While preparing for the next step in the transformation journey, Finance leaders must, must, must understand the key differences between ERP and CPM.  And for organizations preparing to evaluate new software for Finance Transformation, understanding ERP and CPM is especially critical.

ERP Systems Run the Business

Transactional systems such as ERP are best used to ‘run’ the organisation.  Any number of these systems can be present in a global organisation and can come from multiple suppliers.

While the term was first used in the 1990s by the Gartner Group, ERP systems actually have deep roots in the manufacturing industry and can trace their history back to the 1960s.  At that time, manufacturers needed a better way to manage, track and control inventory.

Today, ERP is generally referred to as a category of business management software – and typically a suite of integrated applications – that an organization can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities.  Here are some examples of the business activities ERP systems help automate and track:

• Manufacturing
• Supply Chain Management
• Project Management
• Order Processing
• Finance and Accounting (e.g., General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management)

CPM Systems Manage the Business

The CPM or EPM solution (see Figure 1) is the management layer above all transaction systems.  CPM software provides a level of agility and visibility which is now critical for any organisation that wants to successfully handle the complexities of growth and change.  With an effective management layer in place, organisations can upgrade or replace underlying ERP/GL systems.  And it can be done without disrupting critical management processes, such as planning and reporting, during the transition period.

Essentially, CPM systems monitor performance across the enterprise with a key goal at the centre of it all: improving business performance.  A CPM system integrates and analyses data from many sources, including from applications across the organization such as the front-office, e-commerce systems, back-office, data warehouses and external data sources.  Here are a few of the key management processes supported by CPM:

• Strategic Planning
• Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting
• Analytics and Scenario Modelling
• Financial Close and Consolidation
• Profitability Management
• Corporate Tax Provisioning and Reporting
• Statutory and Management Reporting

CPM Investments Are Agnostic to M&A Strategy

During a recent customer conversation, the customer explained how a OneStream CPM investment was a key part of his organisation’s M&A strategy.  The company recently made a very large acquisition and had very little time or information to integrate the financial systems.  To integrate or consolidate systems at the transactional ERP layer would take months or even years, not to mention cause major disruptions in day-to-day business operations.  Comparatively, integrating the acquired company into OneStream can take just a matter of hours to a few days depending on the company size.

The Next Generation CPM Emerges

OneStream entered the CPM market to offer something completely different to the fragmented CPM systems acquired and developed by mega-vendors.  To offer something better – a single unified platform to bring together all the key CPM processes and analytics in one place (see Figure 2).

The strength of the OneStream platform takes organisations to an entirely new level of CPM, one where they can move away from only viewing key data and ratios at the month end to receiving weekly or even daily signals.  As a result, action can be taken at the speed of the organisation.  OneStream is therefore empowering its customers to “lead at speed.”

With OneStream, multiple integrations down to source systems to feed each CPM process are not necessary.  Instead, the intuitive workflow ensures data is loaded from ERPs only once and then becomes immediately available in any required process, such as planning and financial consolidation.

Thanks to OneStream’s ability to re-use core components of dimensionality, different hierarchies/business structures – which previously often resulted in separate CPM instances – can now be accommodated in a single platform.

That’s why over 700 organisations have chosen to convert from multiple legacy CPM products to OneStream’s Intelligent Finance platform – and they’ve never looked back.  These organisations have achieved abundant benefits.  Here are just a few:

• Eliminated the risk and complexity of data integration, validation and reconciliation between multiple products, applications or modules.
• Transformed Finance and shifted Finance users’ time from admin to value-added analysis.
• Supported corporate and multiple line-of-business requirements in a single, unified platform.

Conclusion

When it comes to CPM vs. ERP, leaving CPM behind for an ERP system is not a great move for any medium to large organisation.  A CPM solution is a critical investment for such organisations – one that ensures an effective management layer is in place.  CPM solutions deliver key information and reporting relating not only to the performance of the business but also to how to manage effectively and take the right decisions going forward.  In other words, CPM complements and integrates with transactional systems such as ERPs, which are key to running the business – true Finance Transformation relies on both CPM and ERP systems working together.

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To learn more, click here to read about how our customer Xylem facilitates better, faster business decisions using OneStream.

Industry analyst reports are often a key source of information buyers leverage when they are identifying and evaluating potential enterprise software vendors who can meet their needs.  But not all industry analyst reports are created equally.  Many of them are based mostly on analyst opinion, and a few customer references.  But some are based more on customer surveys and reviews, providing a clear assessment of how actual customers view the software vendor and the value they are getting from their solutions. This is often referred to as the “wisdom of crowds.”

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As the biggest global pandemic in over 100 years, the COVID-19 crisis is having major impact on the global economy and organizations in almost every industry across the globe.  And while the worst of the outbreak is hopefully behind us, the return to normalcy and timeline for economic recovery is anything but certain.

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When evaluating enterprise software solutions, there is nothing more valuable than learning from the experiences of other organizations who have already implemented the software.  This feedback can be gathered from customer references provided by the vendor, or from third party surveys of a broad set of customers.

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The market for financial EPM solutions is changing. There’s an undeniable shift to the cloud, where functionality can be easily updated and there are no upfront hardware or maintenance fees. You’ve probably heard all the benefits of migrating to the cloud. There’s also a new trend in the market — new players have joined the game, disrupting EPM technology with unified platforms.

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Today’s EPM tools are cumbersome, costly and complicated
As compared to just ten years ago, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) has gotten even more complicated. Today, we have fewer vendors but numerous function-specific tools are required to meet the performance management needs of most organizations.

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