Using our research, best practices and expertise, we help you understand how to optimize your business processes using applications, information and technology. We provide advisory, education, and assessment services to rapidly identify and prioritize areas for improvement and perform vendor selection
We provide guidance using our market research and expertise to significantly improve your marketing, sales and product efforts. We offer a portfolio of advisory, research, thought leadership and digital education services to help optimize market strategy, planning and execution.
Services for Technology Vendors
We provide guidance using our market research and expertise to significantly improve your marketing, sales and product efforts. We offer a portfolio of advisory, research, thought leadership and digital education services to help optimize market strategy, planning and execution.
After a decade of limited technology innovation, the office of finance computing landscape now is experiencing significant transformation. This shift can be seen in areas including ERP, accounting and financial performance management applications like budgeting, closing and planning applications that now are readily available for licensing through subscription and in the cloud. In-memory computing and big data infrastructure make it easier to process larger volumes of data as well as identify risk and opportunities to improve results. “We’ve always done it this way” won’t do anymore. Finance organizations must adapt to the expanding potential from what technology is making practical.
ISG Software Research offers fact-based strategic advisory services to the Office of Finance that are designed to resolve process and people issues by addressing the underlying defects in technology (software) and information (data). Through its understanding of the vendor landscape and technology trends, ISG Software Research enables it clients to maximize their substantial investment in technology for ERP, financial consolidation and reporting, budgeting and planning, price and revenue management, subscription management and finance analytics.
Executive Director
Business Research
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Prophix One dedicated financial software enables effective operations, analysis and a positive work environment for improved organizational performance.
Sage puts AI-enabled automation, continuous accounting front and center in its ERP, along with the ability to connect businesses across software platforms.
Capitalize on advances in cloud-based ERP by upgrading to a more configurable, customizable system with superior security and performance.
OneStream’s financial platform delivers many small-scale improvements with big results: embedded AI and enhanced capabilities improve performance, accuracy.
Straight-through processing streamlines business processes, increasing organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Competitive innovation is driving GenAI development and pricing, increasing the value proposition for tools that improve efficiency.
Ventana Research offers market observations and overall results from the Financial Consolidation and Close Buyers Guides for office of finance software products.
AI innovation is making dedicated consolidation software more compelling for those seeking increased productivity and a shorter accounting close process.
Oracle innovates business applications with embedded AI, enabling productivity gains, streamlined processing for HR, finance, supply chain, and more.
Value-Added Tax automation uses software to streamline and manage the calculation, reporting and filing of VAT returns to ensure compliance.
Anticipation of greater revenue, reduced costs drive AI investment decisions which in turn substantially impact performance, competitive advantage.
Using tax-provision software allows tax and accounting departments to streamline processes, reduce risk and free up time to increase strategic value.
Using AI to transform order-to-cash systems reduces human workloads, delivering efficiencies and improving the customer experience.
AI is powerful, but not a cure-all: implementing AI in purchasing departments while improving data management, workflows, and identifying priorities is key.
Sage Intacct has enhanced its roadmap for bringing AI and generative AI to its product lines, offering features for improved ERP efficiency.
Understand the three pillars to “continuous accounting,” an approach to managing the finance and accounting department that improves performance and increases productivity.
Accounts receivable automation can serve a customer-facing purpose by reducing frictions in transactions, improving the customer experience.
A/R automation is part of a digital finance methodology that we call continuous accounting, which is designed to address today’s need for greater productivity.
Zoho’s product roadmap focuses on creating easy-to-use, cost-effective applications that increase productivity across all parts of an enterprise.
Initial productivity gains from simple applications that are invisible to the user will prove AI’s feasibility and value and build trust in the technology.
Adoption of new technologies like AI must be a priority if Finance organizations are to reduce workloads and improve performance.
Employing AI in operational, financial and contingency planning provides a full view of potential opportunities and risks to better manage for the future.
Technology can streamline processes, automate controls and reduce manual tasks, freeing up time to serve the needs of the enterprise more effectively.
Polaris earned the 2023 Office of Finance Digital Leadership Award for using OneStream to unify forecasts with financial planning to predict performance.
The Ventana Research 2024 Office of Finance Market Agenda explores increased productivity through the application of AI technologies and digitization.
IFM can generate significant savings for multinational companies, yet the topic is obscure because usually, nobody oversees IFM.
Coalition of AI leaders to prioritize, develop and support risk management practices for AI and generative AI to spur adoption and benefits from new tech.
Gain productivity and accelerate your organization’s cash cycle by managing accounts receivable processes end-to-end using Billtrust.
Maximizing the power of artificial intelligence for planning, budgeting and analysis tasks enables greater accuracy and productivity with less effort.
Achieving a faster accounting close is within reach, but organizations must adopt the right digital strategy to accomplish it.
insightsoftware’s portfolio of products increases organizational productivity by streamlining various Office of Finance processes.
Organizations that want to improve resiliency, adaptability and performance should look at integrated business planning software from Board for their FP&A.
Centralize responsibility for ESG reporting and compliance with the FP&A group to achieve accuracy control and efficiency objectives.
Enhancements announced by Oracle NetSuite at the SuiteWorld user conference offer a rich set of capabilities that improve business performance.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates insightsoftware.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Infor.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Wotlers Kluwer.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Prophix.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Vena Solutions.
Responsible artificial intelligence is Workday’s data governance approach to AI designed to build trust by evaluating risks and providing transparency.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Planful.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Workday.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates OneStream.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Board International.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates IBM.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Anaplan.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates SAP.
Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Oracle.
The Business Planning Buyers Guide 2023 gauges how well offerings from twelve vendors match buyers’ requirements for business planning software products.
Ventana Research offers market observations from the Business Planning Guide 2023 for Office of Finance software products.
AI-assisted working capital management systems increase staff productivity by automating processes and ensuring timely handoffs, reviews and approvals.
IT innovation enables midsize finance departments with the potential to be more productive.
Despite recent concerns, generative AI presents significant opportunity to streamline routine business functions, freeing staff for more complex tasks.
A virtual audit allows remote access to systems for more efficient, accurate and higher-quality audits and financial statements at potentially lower costs.
As AI advances, technology will enable analysts to build models that empower workers to investigate issues, revise plans and explore potential scenarios.
JAGGAER is the source for purchasing power: JAGGAER One spend management software increases visibility, utilizes analytics, automation to optimize workflow.
Digitally transform your financial consolidation process by adopting new, improved, integrated software to boost productivity and effectiveness.
FloQast’s software helps midsize to small enterprise organizations streamline financial control elements and reduce risk while accelerating the accounting close.
Generative AI is expanding rapidly. Analyst Robert Kugel focuses on how investment and operating costs could be distributed along the value chain.
At its Partner Summit, Sage unveiled key innovations that will enable small and medium size organizations to be more competitive and scalable than ever.
Data quality is the key to finance and accounting excellence.
At its Perform23 industry conference, Planful highlighted ongoing investments to enable finance and accounting departments to improve effectiveness.
Adopt a total quality management approach to managing financial data to improve performance and ensure continuity, resiliency under any circumstances.
Workiva makes ESG compliance and reporting easier, more assured and more productive, earning it the 2023 Office of Finance Digital Innovation Award.
Expand the potential of Office of Finance organizations with technology options to enhance purchasing, sourcing, and payments automation.
Technology can help organizations optimize the cost of working capital by managing inventories, accounts receivable and accounts payable.
OneStream is enhancing productivity for accounting and financial planning and analysis organizations with its Sensible ML and Sensible GPT AI applications.
The expanded scope of continuous accounting, supported by technological advances, enables improved performance and recruiting benefits for finance teams.
Zycus offers source-to-pay software that automates the entire procurement process, reducing manual effort and improving control over organizational spend.
Midsize organizations can use practical and affordable technology to improve performance of planning and budgeting and consolidation and closing.
Basware’s procure-to-pay software automates the entire procurement process, from purchasing to invoice processing and payment reconciliation.
Don’t dismiss the buzz; AI offers finance teams a myriad of practical benefits including improved accuracy, reduced risk and enhanced decision-making.
Coupa’s procure-to-pay platform streamlines spend processes, shortens cycles, reduces costs and provides greater visibility into cash flow.
Software that automates the accounting close makes the process more efficient, reduces the risk of errors and enhances the organization’s effectiveness.
Following the virtual audit model, the continuous audit spreads the work of a full annual audit across the year for more efficient use of resources.
Finance departments should consider new technology to advance their close, consolidate and report processes to achieve superior control, faster results.
Having digital access to all accounts payable-related data delivers organizational benefits such as reduced process friction and improved finances.
Digitally transforming sourcing and procurement enables delivery of expertise, insights across the enterprise while maximizing efficiency, minimizing costs.
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative was designed to rein in what has been viewed as excessive tax avoidance by multinational corporations.
Today’s dedicated planning and budgeting software supports scenario planning to enable leaders to manage more effectively and achieve greater agility.
Insightsoftware’s applications streamline office of finance functions, enabling more time for analysts to analyze and deliver actionable insights.
Trintech’s accounting software modernizes the finance department, using automation to speed and streamline processes, improve efficiency, deliver insights.
Auditoria.AI eliminates pain points in the finance department using automation, AI/ML to reduce manual and repetitive tasks while improving accuracy and control.
Corporations with a high volume of intercompany financial transactions should adopt technology that helps manage, reconcile bookkeeping between entities.
FinancialForce’s ERP and professional services automation software streamlines processes across administrative, customer-facing and accounting operations.
Companies that want to launch subscription or recurring business models should employ software to modernize and streamline processes, ensure data integrity.
The Ventana Research 2023 Market Agenda for the Office of Finance will highlight the transformational role of today’s maturing technologies.
Professional services automation software reduces administrative overhead and enhances organizational effectiveness, allowing workers to focus on clients.
Rootstock Cloud ERP was created for the Salesforce platform to enable effective sales and operations planning for manufacturing and service organizations.
Epicor has focused its ERP platform development on the unique needs of specific vertical industries through focused acquisitions and internal development.
Workiva offers an environmental, social and governance application that enables organizations to manage tasks necessary for reporting on ESG matters.
Serco earned the 2022 Digital Leadership Award in Office of Finance for using Trintech’s Cadency platform to advance the financial close process.
Companies need a Planning Center of Excellence as a practical way of achieving scenario planning rapidly at a sufficiently granular level.
A virtual audit takes advantage of software to achieve higher audit quality with less effort while improving working conditions for the audit firm’s team.
Emburse software promotes smarter money management, employing automation, digital tools to see how and where money is being spent and streamline accounting.
Zoho offers a unified suite of business management tools that support reduced administrative overhead so an organization can grow and scale with agility.
Using software instead of spreadsheets reduces the time and complexity of the tax provision process for a faster accounting close.
Vena Solutions offers midsize organizations a platform to comprehensively address strategy, operations and finance through integrated business planning.
NetSuite’s customer-centric product strategy seeks to engage customers in more of what the software offers to demonstrate value.
Financial planning and analysis groups need to take advantage of technology that reduces manual tasks, freeing up time to concentrate on analytical work.
IBM’s Planning Analytics supports integrated business planning, enabling scenario testing to quickly understand potential outcomes and risks.
Board’s platform enables financial planning and analysis groups to improve forecast and planning accuracy and accelerate analysis and reporting.
Prophix’s cloud financial software accelerates reporting and analysis by automating manual tasks, freeing up valuable time to dedicate to broader goals.
Vertex automates and centralizes indirect tax management, eliminating error-prone manual processes and increasing control, visibility.
Cloud-based ERP will transform the value of the technology and the benefits it delivers, which include superior security, performance and efficiency.
Sensitivity to environmental, social and governance issues – or ESG – has grown over the years and with it, increasing attention by some investors and government entities urging organizations to measure and disclose ESG metrics.
Organizations must use the right software and have the right data available to improve the scope, quality, business impact and timeliness of analytics.
Planful is bringing its FP&A tools to the marketing department, giving organizations a more comprehensive view of their planning, performance.
An important measure of the effectiveness of a finance and accounting department is the time it takes to close the books.
Profitability management is a software-enabled discipline that integrates finance and sales to achieve an optimal balance of revenue and margin objectives.
A predictive finance department is one that can command technology to be more forward-looking and action-oriented while still fulfilling its core role of handling the financial elements of its organization including accounting, treasury and corporate
Workday held its first in-person Rising user group meeting since 2019 in Orlando. Three topics are worth commenting on: Workday’s Extend offering, its industry accelerators and its progress with the Workday Adaptive Planning offering.
Organizations do not live in a vacuum and things happening outside their walls have a direct impact on how they perform. So, it is essential for them to incorporate external data in their forecasting, planning and budgeting, especially for predictive
General Omar Bradley is credited with saying, “Amateurs study strategy, professionals study logistics.” This is a battlefield commander’s perspective on the often-overlooked importance of mastering the nitty-gritty in achieving military objectives. I
The lockdowns of 2020 forced accounting departments to adapt to managing their close-to-report cycle without face-to-face contact, prompting many to adopt digital technologies to facilitate the process. It gave further impetus to the digital transfor
Especially in the United States, baby boomer retirements and fewer graduates with accounting degrees is posing a growing challenge to finance department executives in attracting and retaining the best accounting talent. The solution, which may not se
“Digital finance transformation” became an even more important topic over the past two years as finance and accounting departments have had to cope with an unrelenting set of new challenges that have had a profound impact on business operations, fina
For the past few years, organizations the world over have been forced to deal with volatile markets and rapidly changing environments caused by an ongoing series of unexpected events. The only certainty facing executives in these times is persistent
The term “continuous planning” may conjure up images of never-ending meetings in which nothing gets accomplished, but Ventana Research uses it to describe a highly collaborative, action-oriented approach to corporate planning built on frequent, short
Well-executed Intercompany Financial Management (IFM) can have a significant impact on the bottom line for large multinational organizations. IFM is a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal ent
Pricing determines not just revenue, but also margin. And margin is vital to ensuring profitability. So pricing both serves to generate volume, and hence revenue. Given the importance of pricing, it is surprising how few companies use data and purpos
What business continuity lessons have public sector organizations learned during recent challenging times?
The challenges facing tax departments are mounting. Governments worldwide are scrutinizing companies’ reporting more closely in an attempt to raise revenue.
Subscription and recurring revenue models are proving to be the way forward for many of today’s organizations. But what challenges arise for the Office of Finance as companies shift toward this way of doing business? How can organizations harness the
Continuous Planning is a high participation, collaborative approach that connects and aligns operational and financial forecasts to support action-oriented planning. This method promotes agility that is valuable both in times of crises and in a stead
Profitability management is especially valuable as corporations confront cost-price pressures, shifting demand and supply conditions, and structural changes in markets and economies. Having the right tool along with the right data is the first step t
Everyone running a business knows that the bottom line is the bottom line. But how does your company manage profitability? There’s an important distinction between managing to profit objectives and what Ventana Research calls “profitability managemen
The ability of the finance department to execute rapid planning, forecasting and budgeting cycles is a major factor that determines a company’s adaptability to change because the planning process enables executives to guide the organization on the pa
Being able to determine a company's true economic costs is one of the values of profitability management and analytics-driven business discipline designed to help organizations maximize market share and profitability. Watch and listen to Robert Kugel
In this exclusive Q&A, Robert Kugel, SVP & Research Director at Ventana Research, answers questions about why new standards are getting so much attention, what the associated costs to companies will be due to the new standards, why standard ERP syst
Software can become functionally obsolete even if it still operates. This makes it difficult to know when it’s time to replace a legacy system. Finance organizations should assess replacing existing software when it limits departmental efficiency, fl
Profitability management is designed to achieve consistently higher financial returns compared to this standard approach by performing profitability analysis at a more granular level to produce a clearer picture of economic costs and cost drivers. Re
Anaplan 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 on a single platform. This Integrat
How do you close the books when faced with a distributed working environment and other operational constraints? Robert Kugel sheds light on the value of virtualizing the accounting close to make the process more efficient and resilient.
To reach the best possible outcomes, sales leaders must be able to govern and optimize the processes they rely on; meeting this challenge is the essence of sales performance. However, those leading and working in sales must cope with myriad often dis
New standards for lease accounting and revenue recognition are challenging finance departments. Robert Kugel sheds light on how the complexity of the new standards, the cross-functional processes for managing them, require software systems – not spre
Dedicated planning and budgeting software improves public sector finance department efficiency and enables responsive, high-quality service. Read the Q&A.
A business crisis alerts finance leaders to their organization’s vulnerabilities. When lockdowns prevented people from being in their offices in 2020, organizations with the right technology and processes demonstrated their ability to adapt, overcome
Information technology will have a greater impact on how the finance department operates over the next 10 years than it has over the past 50. The cumulative impact of a decade of steady technology evolution along with the demographic shift to digital
The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization. Our
Many senior finance executives want their department to play a more strategic role in the management and operations of their company.
Midsize organizations and their finance and accounting departments face a different set of challenges than those faced by small businesses or large enterprises. They’ve outgrown the often-informal systems and processes that worked when they were smal
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) that harnesses machine learning (ML) will be the single most important trend in business software this decade because it can multiply the investment value of such applications and provide software companies an
Profitability management is an analytics-driven business discipline designed to enable organizations to achieve their market share and profitability objectives.
Ventana Research uses the term “continuous accounting” to describe how recent advances in information technology can help finance organizations to fundamentally restructure their departmental operations to transform their function. Whereas most past
Business analytics today involves far more than reports and spreadsheets. But despite significant investments in business intelligence (BI) software, many midsize banks continue to operate with a limited set of analytic capabilities, focused largely
People have been complaining about budgeting forever. Technology helps the CFO and finance organization produce a detailed budget and analyze “the numbers” with less effort than was required in the past. Dissatisfaction remains, however, because tech
Finance executives have come to value contingency planning and adaptability in the face of uncertainty, whether it is caused by a worldwide crisis or simply the variance of day-today business.
CIOs face a constant challenge as they deploy resources: they must find the balance between focusing on strategic projects while still performing essential “keep the lights on” activities like user support and applications maintenance. To increase re
Corporations continually confront profitability issues and opportunities caused by competitors’ actions, shifts in demand, as well as changes in commodity prices and other factor costs.
Business continuity is the ability of an organization to maintain normal operations without compromise, regardless of external conditions. Because they provide emergency and other critical services, government organizations must be able to maintain b
The tax provision and tax reporting processes being used by organizations are receiving greater attention from CFOs and audit committees for two important reasons. One is an intensified determination to shorten the accounting close. The other is to a
Organizations have traditionally handled the multiple components of payments and spend management in a scattershot manner due to the legacy of paper-based systems used by individual business units. As a result, even when they switch from paper to sof
Futurists and software vendors have been pointing to a day when artificial intelligence (AI) using machine learning (ML) will perform miracles such as providing life-saving diagnoses and recommending treatments for even rare diseases in seconds.
Digital finance transformation is a way to improve the performance of the finance department by using digital technologies to integrate and automate business processes. Improving performance isn’t just about efficiency and cost savings, though.
Traditional workforce planning is a set of processes performed by the Human Resources (HR) function, working with business units and departments to address short- and long- term staffing needs. In this model, HR provides guidelines on pay rates per l
Over the next 10 years, technology will do more to change the finance and accounting organization than it has over the past 50. A spate of advances in databases, data processing, analytics and tools addressing the user experience as well as the appli
The purpose of planning is not planning; it is decision making. And the purpose of reimagining operational planning as a continuous, connected process is to deliver business value, making these processes faster, more agile and more intelligent so tha
Digitally native organizations are those that have existed from their inception primarily in the digital world, and that typically engage with customers and deliver their products or services via a digital interaction. Well-known examples include Net
As finance and accounting departments seek to improve performance, virtualization of processes will play an important role. Virtual accounting uses software to eliminate manual processes as much as possible, and it is marked by a substantial reductio
The critical lesson learned from any crisis is the importance of resiliency to cope with sometimes rapidly changing circumstances. Technology has demonstrated that it provides the essential ingredient to achieving this resiliency.
Consolidating and closing the accounting books is an essential core process for the Office of Finance. Efficient and reliable consolidation—the process of combining financial results from multiple legal entities and subsidiary companies—is essential
There is longstanding agreement on the importance of a company closing its books as quickly as possible. A short close becomes all the more important during periods of business disruption and uncertainty because it allows an organization to accelerat
The number of days it takes it to close the company’s books—that is, the number of days into the following month required to complete all the activities associated with the financial close—is a reliable way to gauge the effectiveness of a finance dep
Ventana Research uses the term “continuous accounting” to describe an approach to managing the finance and accounting function to boost its performance. Using technology, departments can spread workloads continuously over a fiscal period to shorten t
Companies routinely collaborate in creating, editing, updating, proofreading, and approving composite documents.
As organizational spend continues to evolve, key expenses such as business travel and employee spend are becoming increasingly difficult to control. Organizations that have deployed separate manual processes to manage aspects of spending often contin
The tax provision and tax reporting processes are getting greater attention from CFOs and audit committees for three reasons.
More effective management of pricing usually is the biggest profitability lever available to corporations.
Technology is important to planning and sales performance management. The right technology will give executives and managers a clear picture of the current sales situation and provide the tools needed to make reliable forecasts for the future. This a
Environmental, social and governance issues have grown increasingly pressing over the past few years as investors and government entities urge organizations to measure and disclose ESG metrics. I’ve already covered the broader topic as it relates to
It can be hard to spot deterioration in software. Performance degradation happens subtly over time in all software, including finance department software such as performance management and ERP systems. However, our research finds a correlation betwee
Close automation software designed for midsize companies is relatively new. Successful midsize companies may find they need to automate their close when it takes longer to close, when mistakes, dropped balls and preventable delays increase, or if err
To gain full advantage of technology, finance and accounting organizations must become “fast followers,” avoiding the bleeding edge but breaking the habit of waiting until the last possible moment before adopting proven advances.
Since its inception 20 years ago, Ventana Research has advocated for a shorter accounting close because it can improve the performance of the entire organization, not just finance and accounting. An important benefit of a shorter close is increased s
We conducted our recent Smart Close Dynamic Insights Research in part to assess to what extent the substantial disruptions of the pandemic have impacted the accounting close. When office lockdowns began in the first quarter of 2020, many finance depa
OneStream offers a platform designed to serve the needs of accounting and financial planning and analysis organizations. The software handles financial close and consolidation, planning and budgeting, analysis and reporting. For me, the most signific
A few years ago – somewhat tongue in cheek – I began using the term “data pantry” to describe a type of data store that’s part of a business application platform, created for a specific set of users and use cases. It’s a data pantry because, unlike a
Artificial intelligence using machine learning has passed through the bright, shiny object stage and software vendors are well into the process of making the concept a reality in their offerings.
Organizations need to use external data in planning and budgeting, both data and third-party forecasts. This need also extends to external data in training artificial intelligence systems to assist in planning and for predictive analytics.
Sage recently announced that it is expanding its Sage Intacct software offering to support discrete manufacturing, with its initial foray into this competitive market centered in France. The move supports the company’s strategy of building out the sc
I first wrote about a new era of trade a few years ago to make the point that the period of optimizing supply chains for the lowest cost was over, and that companies needed to redesign them to achieve greater resiliency. That observation proved corre
How payments are effected is an afterthought to many involved in a transaction, but flaws in this process can be a source of pain and frustration for those in the back office, especially in accounting and treasury. To improve the way payments are han
The term "corporate spend" usually refers to the incidental but still significant outlays organizations make to support operations. Especially in nonmanufacturing industries, purchases of indirect goods and business services – such as computers, offi
Ventana Research recently published the results of our Business Planning Value Index Research and I commented on its connection to our emphasis on using software to unify planning processes across an enterprise to improve performance. Since 2007, we
Indirect taxes — known variously as sales-and-use, value-added or goods-and-services tax — can get complicated, particularly in countries that have overly complex tax regimes such as Brazil, India and the United States. For example, in the U.S., stat
Value-added tax is a type of levy that is applied at each step of a transaction chain, from basic inputs to the final good or service. The amount assessed is based on the value added by an organization (hence the name) when a transaction occurs. VAT
Financial consolidation is the process of combining financial data (notably assets, liabilities, income and expenses) from multiple subsidiaries’ general ledgers across an organization for the purpose of creating a parent company report. The current
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Infor, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
I recently attended an analyst conference held by Unit4, an enterprise resource planning vendor focused on midsize organizations in people-centric industries. The conference was intended to communicate the company’s strategy, product updates and road
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Unit4, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Planful, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Prophix, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Join analyst Robert Kugel and Zuora’s Yash Mahajani to learn about key opportunities and challenges associated with recurring revenue for accounting and finance teams.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Vena Solutions, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about insightsoftware, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Software that automates the full scope of the accounting close, including reconciliations, consolidation and reporting, has grown more capable and affordable over the past five years. By enabling consistent process management that captures best pract
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Workday, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about OneStream Software, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Wolters Kluwer, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Anaplan, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Reconciling accounts at the end of a period is one of those mundane finance department tasks that are ripe for automation. Reconciliation is the process of comparing account data (at the balance or item level) that exists either in two accounting sys
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Board, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about Oracle, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about SAP, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research is sharing insights about IBM, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) using machine learning (ML) will be the single most important trend in business software this decade because it can multiply the investment value of such applications and provide vendors an important source of
Having just completed the 2022 Ventana Research Value Index for Business Planning, I want to share some of my observations about the business planning software market and how it has advanced as an important part of our market coverage for almost two
I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Value Index research, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.
Ventana Research recently announced its 2022 Market Agenda for the Office of Finance, continuing the guidance we have offered since 2003 on the practical use of technology for the finance and accounting department.
Ventana Research has announced its market agenda for 2022, continuing the tradition of reliability in our efforts to educate and guide the technology market. Our assessments are backed by our expertise and independence, as we do not share our market
As with many IT innovations, augmented reality (AR), extended reality (XR) and the related topic of spatial computing had been discussed to death long before they became a practical reality. As a user interface, AR is already well understood in terms
The annual Ventana Research Digital Leadership Awards recognize organizations and individuals that utilize technology to advance business and IT. The Digital Leadership Awards showcase the professional leadership and their use of business application
Historically, it’s been difficult to convince chief financial officers to invest in technology that makes it easier to spend money. That’s probably because before digital technologies, the natural impediments to spending stood as crude but effective
Pricing is an issue that almost every for-profit company confronts – and usually agonizes over. Chief financial officers must play a part in setting the strategic direction of pricing in their organization. They should not be involved in tactical pri
The annual Ventana Research Digital Leadership Awards recognize organizations and individuals that utilize technology to advance business and IT. The Digital Leadership Awards showcase the professional leadership and their use of business application
Over the past decade, close-management software has evolved to enable even midsize organizations to streamline department processes, operate in a virtual mode, accelerate the accounting close and reduce staff stress. It’s one step toward continuous a
Power ON is software designed for organizations to streamline their business planning, budgeting, forecasting, reviewing and reporting, in order to make these processes more effective and accurate.
A digital finance and accounting organization is one that uses software to enhance efficiency by eliminating manual operations and automating workflows, improving financial data quality. This is especially relevant to small to midsize organizations t
Robert Kugel discusses the reality, predictions, considerations and benefits about Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) reporting for organizations.
Finance organizations must provide data-driven advice on the best response to adverse events that still achieves business objectives.
Profitability management is especially valuable as corporations confront cost-price pressures, shifting demand and supply conditions, and structural changes in markets and economies. Having the right tool along with the right data is the first step t
How will digital transformation affect the role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)?
In today’s fluid operating environment, organizations must be agile and resilient to deal successfully with unpredictable events and rapid changes in their operating environment.
For decades, sourcing and supply chain management was focused almost exclusively on achieving the lowest cost, and the world’s trade environment supported this approach. However, I observed that the new era of trade, supply chain planning and executi
Over the past decade, how organizations manage processes and record data related to transactional events captured by an enterprise resource planning system has undergone a significant evolution. Some of the more recent changes have been the result of
Continuous Planning is a high participation, collaborative approach that connects and aligns operational and financial forecasts to support action-oriented planning. This method promotes agility that is valuable both in times of crises and in a stead
Digital transformation of the Office of Finance has been a recurring theme for several years, but adoption accelerated when offices were locked down and organizations had to collaborate remotely
Organizations have traditionally handled the multiple components of payments and spend management in a scattershot manner due to the legacy of paper-based systems used by individual business units.
Managing corporate income taxes is a challenge for chief financial officers. Tax codes are often complex, so tax accounting as well as the data required for tax provisions and tax compliance are different enough from statutory accounting to create si
Digital transformation is achieved by using digital technologies to create new (or modify existing) processes and methods to meet evolving business and market requirements. For finance departments the term is associated with, among other changes, usi
Everyone running a business knows that the bottom line is the bottom line. But how does your company manage profitability? There’s an important distinction between managing to profit objectives and what Ventana Research calls “profitability managemen
A looming challenge for companies in the developed world is price inflation, an issue periodically fretted over – but not experienced at a macroeconomic level in most developed economies – over the past four decades.
Any crisis, whether worldwide or impacting a single organization, tests an executive team’s ability to seize a fleeting opportunity, address an existential problem or mitigate future risks. Global turmoil highlights the need for the financial plannin
An important and durable lesson of recent massive disruptions is that organizations need to forecast and plan with agility so they can quickly adapt to evolving economic, market, legal, regulatory and behavioral conditions. Organizations that have in
As a result of the rapidly changing business landscape in 2020 and the need to quickly – and intelligently – change business plans and budgets, many more companies have been deciding to adopt a continuous planning approach to be able to add speed and
Environmental, social and governance reporting by public corporations has become a top-of-mind issue for senior executives and boards of directors as countries increasingly consider or mandate its implementation in some form.
Standard planning software helps executives achieve profitability objectives by establishing top-level revenue targets and setting aggregated expense limitations. On the other hand, profitability management is designed to achieve consistently higher
The annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards showcase advances in the productivity and potential of business applications, as well as technology that contributes significantly to the improved processes and performance of an organization.
A year of business uncertainty, lockdowns and operational disruptions forced finance and accounting organizations to adapt and change in many ways that are proving to be permanent.
The purpose of planning is not planning; it is decision making. And the purpose of reimagining operational planning as a continuous, connected process is to deliver business value, making these processes faster, more agile and more intelligent so tha
These days it strikes me that the motto of successful salespeople – "ABC: Always Be Closing!" – should apply equally to corporate controllers, albeit in the accounting sense.
Darwin never claimed that evolutionary success came down to survival of the fittest. To the contrary, he stated, “it is not the strongest that survives; but…the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds i
A business crisis alerts finance leaders to their organization’s vulnerabilities. When lockdowns prevented people from being in their offices in 2020, organizations with the right technology and processes demonstrated their ability to adapt, overcome
Business continuity is the ability of an organization to maintain normal operations without compromise, regardless of external conditions. Because they provide emergency and other critical services, government organizations must be able to maintain b
Business process reengineering (BPR) 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 ma
Corporations continually confront profitability issues and opportunities caused by competitors’ actions, shifts in demand, as well as changes in commodity prices and other factor costs.
Ventana Research defines intercompany financial management as a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities.
The objectives of zero-based budgeting are well aligned with what I call integrated business planning, a technology-enabled approach to managing the forward-looking activities of a corporation including forecasting, planning and budgeting.
Unit4’s Financial Planning and Analysis (formerly Prevero) is a planning and budgeting application designed for the requirements of midsize corporations and the public sector.
Financial consolidation software assists companies in executing their accounting close process - especially those that use multiple ERP systems or have multiple legal entities - and with other characteristics that can complicate the process such as k
FourQ is an intercompany financial management (IFM) Solution-as-a-Service provider. IFM is a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities, and is designed to maximize staff efficiency and ac
The ERP system is at the core of nearly every organization’s record keeping and business process management. Its smooth and uninterrupted functioning is essential to an organization’s accounting and finance functions.
Small business owners are fortunate to have a choice of feature-rich, flexible, and affordable entry-level accounting packages. Eventually, though, successful businesses grow and will often find that the very accounting software that once made things
Ventana Research defines intercompany financial management (IFM) as a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities that is designed to maximize staff efficiency and accounting accuracy while
IBM Planning Analytics, formerly known as TM1, is a comprehensive planning and analytics application designed to integrate and streamline an organization’s planning processes. It can support multiple planning use cases on a single platform, including
Organizations have long sought ways to achieve a fast but “clean” (accurate) financial close. The most widely accepted benchmark is to be able to close within one business week.
The challenges of the pandemic prevented auditors from visiting client offices, which led to widespread adoption of remote audit processes.
Irked by the need to account for every penny of his college expenses, poet Robert Frost penned the lines:
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has emerged as a core digital technology for finance and accounting organizations. It can drive significant gains in productivity and efficiency by automating mechanical, repetitive accounting processes in a continuou
Ventana Research recently announced its 2021 market agenda for the Office of Finance, continuing the guidance we’ve offered since 2003 on the practical use of technology for the finance and accounting department.
Profitability management produces a sustainable competitive advantage but by 2025 only one-third of companies will have implemented a profitability management initiative, explains Ventana Research SVP and Research Director Robert Kugel.
Ventana Research has announced its market agenda for 2021, continuing the tradition of transparency in our efforts to educate and guide the technology market but also our independence as we do not share our market agenda or analyst perspectives with
The post-pandemic world will see much returned to normal, but there will also be change. For businesses that faced shutdowns, these changes will include higher taxes to pay for the costs of mitigating the economic impact, and the loss of tax revenue.
Finance executives have come to value contingency planning and adaptability in the face of uncertainty, whether it is caused by a worldwide crisis or simply the variance of day-today business.
BlackLine recently held its first virtual user conference, Beyond the Black, where it detailed numerous additions and enhancements to its applications.
In the context of planning, budgeting and benchmarking, external data includes information about the world outside an organization such as economic and market statistics, competitors and customers.
Information technology will have a greater impact on how the finance department operates over the next 10 years than it has over the past 50. The cumulative impact of a decade of steady technology evolution along with the demographic shift to digital
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a core digital technology for increasing productivity and efficiency, speeding the completion of work, and increasing its quality and controllability.
The purpose of planning is to enable executives and managers to make better-informed decisions more consistently. Planning within an organization requires setting objectives and weighing the alternative methods of achieving those objectives, because
Effective financial management requires the ability to understand an organization’s current condition while having visibility into its potential future state.
Can you imagine a more arcane and boring topic than accounts receivable? Unless you are the CFO, controller, chief accounting officer or treasurer of an organization, maybe not.
Charles Darwin never said evolution was a matter of the survival of the fittest. On the contrary, he said: It is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
One of the oddities of corporate management is that, as a rule, nobody oversees managing profitability.
The critical lesson learned from any crisis is the importance of resiliency to cope with sometimes rapidly changing circumstances. Technology has demonstrated that it provides the essential ingredient to achieving this resiliency.
In preparing this research note I took the precaution of searching “value-based planning” to see what came up. Over the years, the term has been used in several contexts each with different shadings.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are central to nearly every organization’s management of operational and financial business processes.
What business continuity lessons have public sector organizations learned during recent challenging times? How can planning and budgeting software contribute to agility that helps promote business continuity? How can the accounting and finance depart
A couple of years ago, I started talking about a “New Era of Trade.” Its starting point was the world financial crisis in 2007, but the evidence that we were experiencing a shift only became obvious years later.
An important recent development in software designed for the Office of Finance is the addition of what we’re calling a data aggregation device (DAD) for analytical applications.
In this Analyst Perspective from Robert Kugel, learn how FP&A can redefine its mission to achieve the long-stated goal of making it more of a strategic partner with the rest of the organization.
A great deal has changed in how finance and accounting departments operate since the start of 2020.
One of the challenges of being a practically minded technology analyst is squaring the importance of “the next big thing” with the reality of what most organizations are doing.
Midsize organizations face a unique set of challenges. Software can help enable growth without adding administrative overhead, and close automation is a great place to start.
Dedicated planning and budgeting software will help government organizations build the ability to maintain business continuity.
Workiva recently introduced Chains, a visual workflow tool for the Workiva platform.
FP&A and business analysts can make reporting more effective by reimagining how, what and when their company does its reporting.
Dedicated planning and budgeting software improves public sector finance department efficiency and enables responsive, high-quality service.
Recent events are forcing corporations to adopt dedicated software for tax provision, transfer pricing and tax analysis.
Virtual accounting enables the department to achieve speed and resilience without sacrificing accuracy and control. Start by virtualizing the close.
“Virtualizing” the accounting close involves applying software automation, substantially reducing manual and paper-based processes and incorporating electronic collaboration. Virtualization enables finance and accounting departments to achieve speed
In a recent note on virtualizing the close, I observed that finance and accounting organizations that can operate in a virtual mode are better able to adapt to changing circumstances and overcome obstacles.
Pricing is an eternally vexing issue in business. Over the years, organizations have used different strategies to establish prices for their products, depending on custom, the nature of the business and the degree of competitiveness in the market.
Host Analytics recently announced it will now go by the name Planful.
Yes, it’s an easy metaphor, but a worthwhile one to consider. For the Office of Finance, figures are its raw material.
I’ve written before about blockchain’s significant potential. A lot of the current discussion on the topic centers on cryptocurrencies and financial trading platforms, both of which are already in operation.
In late February I attended Spark, the Scout annual user group meeting. This was the third and likely the last such meeting, as Scout was recently acquired by Workday.
We find in our recent Change in the Office of Finance benchmark research an indication of the value of using automation to execute finance department functions.
I like Louis Pasteur’s observation that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” So-called black swan events happen regularly and can have a very negative effect on a business.
I like Louis Pasteur’s observation that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” So-called black swan events happen regularly and can have a very negative effect on a business.
For decades I’ve heard people talk about cutting audit costs to reduce administrative overhead but based on my observations, I was skeptical — mostly because, until recently, the documented success stories haven’t been about going from good to great
I was invited to sit on a panel at CFO 3.0 events held in San Francisco and New York hosted by Sage Intacct.
One of the objectives of our recent Change in the Office of Finance benchmark research was to assess the technological capabilities of finance and accounting departments.
The Chief Financial Officer can enable her or his finance department play a more strategic role in company operations by adopting what I call profitability management.
Dedicated software is the most effective tool for organizations seeking to plan for business continuity, sustainability and success
The global pandemic crisis was, in effect, an unrehearsed stress test measuring the resiliency of the department. The crisis highlighted the importance of sustaining confidence in the accuracy and control of accounting processes, not just efficiency.
Sometimes it takes a while for technology to fundamentally change how work is done. That’s because several innovations usually have to come together before a transformation can occur.
I like Louis Pasteur’s observation that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” So-called black swan events happen regularly and can have a very negative effect on a business.
Finance executives need to rethink their planning and budgeting processes to make them faster, more agile and more predictive to achieve their objectives under any circumstances.
There are times when organizations can be overwhelmed by financial stress while simultaneously embracing distributed working environments and other operational constraints they weren’t prepared for. Finance and accounting departments that can utilize
CIOs face the constant challenge of having resources available for strategic projects while still performing essential “keep-the-lights-on” activities. IT organizations can shed non-essential workloads, especially as they forge a relationship with th
The basic concepts used for measuring, analyzing and managing profitability are well established. The challenge has been to translate the concepts into practical methods and processes. Technology now enables organizations to address those challenges.
The electronic spreadsheet is among the top five most important advances in business management to come along in the last 100 years. It has revolutionized almost all aspects of finance and accounting.
A central aspect of continuous accounting is controlling accounting and other data that affects financial statements continuously, from start to finish. This form of control, known as “straight-through processing,” addresses the significant issue of
Over the next ten years, technology will do more to change the nature of the work done in the finance and accounting organization than it has over the past 50. A range of technology advances affecting databases, data processing, analytics, user exper
Still using spreadsheets for SOX404 and 302 compliance? Organizations need software, not spreadsheets, to achieve sustainable and efficient compliance
There is longstanding agreement on the importance of a company closing its books as quickly as possible. A short close becomes all the more important during periods of business disruption and uncertainty because it allows an organization to accelerat
The number of days it takes it to close the company�s books � that is; the number of days into the following month required to completed all the activities associated with the financial close � is a reliable way to gauge the effectiveness of a finan
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