“Platform,” as used in the world of technology, originally referred to an operating system on which one could construct software applications. More recently, its usage has been expanded to apply to two types of business models. One enables third parties to create products and services that are complementary to a company’s core technology. For instance, both Apple and Salesforce have attracted a wide array of third-party software developers whose offerings greatly increase the value of each...
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Topics:
Human Capital Management,
Marketing,
Office of Finance,
Voice of the Customer,
Continuous Planning,
Information Management,
Internet of Things,
Workforce Management,
Financial Performance Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
robotic finance,
Predictive Planning,
revenue and lease accounting,
collaborative computing,
continuous supply chain
We’re in a new era of trade, the result of converging issues that have been building for at least a decade. Structurally and politically, the liberal ethos that drove the trade environment through the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st has changed. There will be a new equilibrium in the future; getting there, though, will be a bumpy ride. Adding to the challenges posed by a shifting trade environment are commodity and currency market volatility and the impacts of ongoing legal,...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Recurring Revenue,
Continuous Planning,
Financial Performance Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Inventory Optimization,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
Sales and Operations Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Sales Planning and Analytics,
revenue recognition
Kinaxis recently held its annual user conference, Kinexions, which focuses on helping the company’s customers improve their execution of supply chain and sales and operations planning (S&OP). This year’s event took place against a backdrop of what is beginning to look like a new and more challenging era of world trade. This will have a significant impact on most product companies with international operations. (I also reviewed last year’s event, which can be found here.)
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Topics:
Continuous Planning,
Financial Performance Management,
Inventory Optimization,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
Sales and Operations Planning
A recent analysis of our sales and operations planning (S&OP) dynamic insight research provides perspective on the current state of this core business process. Using concise web-based surveys, Ventana Research’s Dynamic Insights provide research participants with an immediate assessment of their company’s efforts as well as research- and experience-based advice on potential next steps to improve. For those who wish to do a quick assessment of their own company’s sales and operations planning,...
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Topics:
Continuous Planning,
Product Information Management,
Inventory Optimization,
Work and Resource Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
Sales and Operations Planning,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Financial analysts typically classify real estate as a fixed cost. Strictly speaking, that’s correct, but looking at it this way leads many organizations to overlook opportunities to more carefully manage their real estate and other occupancy expenses. The changes in lease accounting that are going into effect have caused some organizations to reexamine their leasing policies and how they organize their lease accounting processes. They should take an even broader approach and consider ways to...
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Topics:
Office of Finance,
Continuous Planning,
Financial Performance Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Accounting,
Lease Accounting,
ASC842,
IFRS16
Blockchains are attractive because their built-in security and trust factors make them useful for almost all business interactions involving organizations and individuals. Blockchains have two basic functions. One is as a method for handling transactions involving property such as land deeds, trademarks or other assets. The second involves exchanges of data such as identities of individuals or businesses, the location of an object at a point in time or weather conditions. All interactions...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Marketing Performance Management,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Data Governance,
Data Integration,
Data Preparation,
Internet of Things,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain
In 2016 Unit4acquired Prevero, a financial performance management software company. The acquisition reflects a trend toward theconvergence of transactional and analytical business applications. ERP and financial management software vendors increasingly are adding analytic capabilities – especially in financial performance management (FPM) – to the core functions of transaction processing and accounting in order to broaden the scope of their offerings. The integration of transaction processing...
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Topics:
Marketing,
Office of Finance,
Continuous Planning,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
Workforce Management,
Financial Performance Management,
FPM,
Work and Resource Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Anaplan recently held Anaplan Hub, its annual user group meeting. The company offers a cloud-based business planning platform that incorporates a modeling and calculation engine. The tool makes it relatively easy to add or expand the scope of plans that can be connected and monitored as a central source. Companies typically use Anaplan software for financial planning or budgeting, sales, workforce, marketing and IT planning. These are the types of plans in which companies often need to create...
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Topics:
Customer Analytics,
Human Capital Management,
Marketing,
Marketing Performance Management,
Office of Finance,
Recurring Revenue,
Continuous Planning,
Analytics,
Business Intelligence,
Cloud Computing,
Collaboration,
HRMS,
Sales Performance Management,
Workforce Management,
Financial Performance Management,
Price and Revenue Management,
Work and Resource Management,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Sales Enablement and Execution,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Sales Planning and Analytics
Oracle recently held its second ERP Cloud Summit with industry analysts. The all-day event wasn’t just about ERP. The company covered a range of its business applications, including financial performance management as well as its Adaptive Intelligent Applications. And it wasn’t just about the cloud. After more than a decade of steady developments, ERP systems have begun to change fundamentally, facilitated by the growing availability of new technologies including cloud computing, advanced...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Customer Experience,
Human Capital Management,
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
Analytics,
Data Integration,
Internet of Things,
Cognitive Computing,
HRMS,
Financial Performance Management,
Mobile Marketing Digital Commerce,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
ERP and Continuous Accounting
Business process reengineering was a consulting fashion in the early 1990s that spurred many companies to purchase their first ERP systems. BPR proposes a fundamental redesign of core business processes to achieve substantial improvements in market and customer responsiveness, productivity, cycle times and quality. ERP systems support business process reengineering by guiding the step-by-step execution of the redesigned process to ensure that it is performed consistently. They also automate the...
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Topics:
Big Data,
Data Science,
Mobile,
Customer Analytics,
Customer Experience,
Machine Learning,
Office of Finance,
Wearable Computing,
Continuous Planning,
business intelligence,
Analytics,
Cloud Computing,
Data Integration,
Internet of Things,
Financial Performance Management,
Digital Technology,
Digital Marketing,
Digital Commerce,
Operations & Supply Chain,
Enterprise Resource Planning,
Machine Learning and Cognitive Computing,
ERP and Continuous Accounting,
Sales Planning and Analytics