Our Expertise

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.

Ventana 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, Ventana 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.

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Analyst Perspective

insightsoftware’s Portfolio Boosts Office of Finance Productivity

insightsoftware’s portfolio of products increases organizational productivity by streamlining various Office of Finance processes.

Analyst Perspective

Board Enables High-Performing FP&A Organizations

Organizations that want to improve resiliency, adaptability and performance should look at integrated business planning software from Board for their FP&A.

Analyst Perspective

A Practical Approach to Managing ESG

Centralize responsibility for ESG reporting and compliance with the FP&A group to achieve accuracy control and efficiency objectives.

Analyst Perspective

NetSuite Emphasizes AI and Expanded Capabilities at SuiteWorld

Enhancements announced by Oracle NetSuite at the SuiteWorld user conference offer a rich set of capabilities that improve business performance.

Market Perspective

insightsoftware is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates insightsoftware.

Market Perspective

Infor is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Infor.

Market Perspective

Wolters Kluwer is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Wotlers Kluwer.

Market Perspective

Prophix Software is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Prophix.

Market Perspective

Vena Solutions is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Vena Solutions.

Analyst Perspective

Workday Rising Highlights Responsible AI

Responsible artificial intelligence is Workday’s data governance approach to AI designed to build trust by evaluating risks and providing transparency.

Market Perspective

Planful is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Planful.

Market Perspective

Workday is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Workday.

Market Perspective

OneStream Software is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates OneStream.

Market Perspective

Board International is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Board International.

Market Perspective

IBM is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates IBM.

Market Perspective

Anaplan is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Anaplan.

Market Perspective

SAP is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates SAP.

Market Perspective

Oracle is Exemplary in Business Planning Buyers Guide

Ventana Research’s 2023 Buyers Guide on Business Planning evaluates Oracle.

Analyst Perspective

The Buyers Guide for Business Planning Classifies and Rates Vendors

The Business Planning Buyers Guide 2023 gauges how well offerings from twelve vendors match buyers’ requirements for business planning software products.

Analyst Perspective

Business Planning Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Ventana Research offers market observations from the Business Planning Guide 2023 for Office of Finance software products.

Analyst Perspective

AI for Working Capital Management

AI-assisted working capital management systems increase staff productivity by automating processes and ensuring timely handoffs, reviews and approvals.

Viewpoint

Financial Technology Innovation Enables Midsize CFO Effectiveness

IT innovation enables midsize finance departments with the potential to be more productive.

Analyst Perspective

With Generative AI, Any Dog Can Write a Contract

Despite recent concerns, generative AI presents significant opportunity to streamline routine business functions, freeing staff for more complex tasks.

Analyst Perspective

Adopt the Virtual Audit to Improve Audit Quality

A virtual audit allows remote access to systems for more efficient, accurate and higher-quality audits and financial statements at potentially lower costs.

Analyst Perspective

Advanced Technology Enables Analytic Autonomy

As AI advances, technology will enable analysts to build models that empower workers to investigate issues, revise plans and explore potential scenarios.

Market Perspective

JAGGAER for Digitally Transforming Sourcing and Purchasing

JAGGAER is the source for purchasing power: JAGGAER One spend management software increases visibility, utilizes analytics, automation to optimize workflow.

Analyst Perspective

Not Your Grandpa’s Consolidate and Close Software

Digitally transform your financial consolidation process by adopting new, improved, integrated software to boost productivity and effectiveness.

Market Perspective

FloQast Streamlines Compliance for a Faster Close

FloQast’s software helps midsize to small enterprise organizations streamline financial control elements and reduce risk while accelerating the accounting close.

Analyst Perspective

The Question of Generative AI Costs

Generative AI is expanding rapidly. Analyst Robert Kugel focuses on how investment and operating costs could be distributed along the value chain.

Analyst Perspective

Sage Positioned to Gain from Seismic Shift in ERP Market

At its Partner Summit, Sage unveiled key innovations that will enable small and medium size organizations to be more competitive and scalable than ever.

eBook

Data: The Keystone of Digital Transformation

Data quality is the key to finance and accounting excellence.

Analyst Perspective

Planful Invests in Finance and Accounting Effectiveness

At its Perform23 industry conference, Planful highlighted ongoing investments to enable finance and accounting departments to improve effectiveness.

Analyst Perspective

Data is the Strategic Raw Material of Finance Departments

Adopt a total quality management approach to managing financial data to improve performance and ensure continuity, resiliency under any circumstances.

Market Perspective

Workiva Earns Office of Finance Digital Innovation Award for 2023

Workiva makes ESG compliance and reporting easier, more assured and more productive, earning it the 2023 Office of Finance Digital Innovation Award.

Analyst Perspective

Accounts Receivable Automation is More Valuable Than You Think

Expand the potential of Office of Finance organizations with technology options to enhance purchasing, sourcing, and payments automation.

Analyst Perspective

Technology Enables Working Capital Optimization

Technology can help organizations optimize the cost of working capital by managing inventories, accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Analyst Perspective

OneStream Advances Generative AI to Improve Productivity

OneStream is enhancing productivity for accounting and financial planning and analysis organizations with its Sensible ML and Sensible GPT AI applications.

Analyst Perspective

Using Continuous Accounting to Improve Performance

The expanded scope of continuous accounting, supported by technological advances, enables improved performance and recruiting benefits for finance teams.

Market Perspective

Zycus Manages Source-to-Pay for Greater Profitability and Control

Zycus offers source-to-pay software that automates the entire procurement process, reducing manual effort and improving control over organizational spend.

Analyst Perspective

Reasons Your Midsize Organization Needs a Finance Technology Update

Midsize organizations can use practical and affordable technology to improve performance of planning and budgeting and consolidation and closing.

Market Perspective

Basware Automates Procure-to-Pay for Greater Profitability and Control

Basware’s procure-to-pay software automates the entire procurement process, from purchasing to invoice processing and payment reconciliation.

Analyst Perspective

Now with the Miracle Ingredient AI!

Don’t dismiss the buzz; AI offers finance teams a myriad of practical benefits including improved accuracy, reduced risk and enhanced decision-making.

Analyst Perspective

Coupa’s Procure-to-Pay Platform Optimizes Spend Processes

Coupa’s procure-to-pay platform streamlines spend processes, shortens cycles, reduces costs and provides greater visibility into cash flow.

Analyst Perspective

Close Automation is Essential for Digital Finance Transformation

Software that automates the accounting close makes the process more efficient, reduces the risk of errors and enhances the organization’s effectiveness.

Analyst Perspective

The Continuous Audit Improves Quality and Efficiency

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.

Analyst Perspective

Our Focus on Close, Consolidate and Report in Finance

Finance departments should consider new technology to advance their close, consolidate and report processes to achieve superior control, faster results.

Analyst Perspective

Accounts Payable Automation is More Valuable Than You Think

Having digital access to all accounts payable-related data delivers organizational benefits such as reduced process friction and improved finances.

Analyst Perspective

Our Focus on Purchasing, Sourcing and Payments in 2023

Digitally transforming sourcing and procurement enables delivery of expertise, insights across the enterprise while maximizing efficiency, minimizing costs.

White Paper

A Global Tax Management Platform Is a Must-Have

The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative was designed to rein in what has been viewed as excessive tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

Analyst Perspective

More Effective Contingency Planning Improves Agility

Today’s dedicated planning and budgeting software supports scenario planning to enable leaders to manage more effectively and achieve greater agility.

Analyst Perspective

Insightsoftware Enables a Predictive and Effective Finance Department

Insightsoftware’s applications streamline office of finance functions, enabling more time for analysts to analyze and deliver actionable insights.

Analyst Perspective

Trintech Streamlines a Transformed Record-to-Report

Trintech’s accounting software modernizes the finance department, using automation to speed and streamline processes, improve efficiency, deliver insights.

Market Perspective

Auditoria Empowers Finance Through AI and ML

Auditoria.AI eliminates pain points in the finance department using automation, AI/ML to reduce manual and repetitive tasks while improving accuracy and control.

Analyst Perspective

Intercompany Financial Management for Accountability and Accounting

Corporations with a high volume of intercompany financial transactions should adopt technology that helps manage, reconcile bookkeeping between entities.

Analyst Perspective

FinancialForce Sharpens Customer Focus in Services Businesses

FinancialForce’s ERP and professional services automation software streamlines processes across administrative, customer-facing and accounting operations.

Analyst Perspective

Optimizing Subscription Management for Finance and Accounting

Companies that want to launch subscription or recurring business models should employ software to modernize and streamline processes, ensure data integrity.

Analyst Perspective

Office of Finance 2023 Market Agenda: A Brave New World

The Ventana Research 2023 Market Agenda for the Office of Finance will highlight the transformational role of today’s maturing technologies.

Analyst Perspective

Professional Services Automation Increases Efficiency

Professional services automation software reduces administrative overhead and enhances organizational effectiveness, allowing workers to focus on clients.

Market Perspective

Rootstock Builds on Roots of ERP for Cloud Computing

Rootstock Cloud ERP was created for the Salesforce platform to enable effective sales and operations planning for manufacturing and service organizations.

Analyst Perspective

Epicor Enriches Vertical-Plus Approach for Growth

Epicor has focused its ERP platform development on the unique needs of specific vertical industries through focused acquisitions and internal development.

Analyst Perspective

Workiva Simplifies ESG Reporting

Workiva offers an environmental, social and governance application that enables organizations to manage tasks necessary for reporting on ESG matters.

Market Perspective

Serco Wins Digital Leadership Award in Office of Finance with Trintech

Serco earned the 2022 Digital Leadership Award in Office of Finance for using Trintech’s Cadency platform to advance the financial close process.

Analyst Perspective

The Planning Center of Excellence

Companies need a Planning Center of Excellence as a practical way of achieving scenario planning rapidly at a sufficiently granular level.

Analyst Perspective

Virtual Audits Improve Financial Statement Quality, Work-Life Balance

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.

Analyst Perspective

Manage Your Spending Purse with Emburse

Emburse software promotes smarter money management, employing automation, digital tools to see how and where money is being spent and streamline accounting.

Market Perspective

Zoho Sweetens its Suite of Applications

Zoho offers a unified suite of business management tools that support reduced administrative overhead so an organization can grow and scale with agility.

Analyst Perspective

Accelerate Closing with a Faster Tax Provision Process

Using software instead of spreadsheets reduces the time and complexity of the tax provision process for a faster accounting close.

Analyst Perspective

Vena Provides Practical Support for Integrated Business Planning

Vena Solutions offers midsize organizations a platform to comprehensively address strategy, operations and finance through integrated business planning.

Analyst Perspective

Oracle NetSuite Goes Full Suite Ahead to Deliver Customer Value

NetSuite’s customer-centric product strategy seeks to engage customers in more of what the software offers to demonstrate value.

Analyst Perspective

Technology Puts the ‘A’ Back in FP&A

Financial planning and analysis groups need to take advantage of technology that reduces manual tasks, freeing up time to concentrate on analytical work.

Analyst Perspective

IBM Planning Analytics Enables Agility Based on Insight

IBM’s Planning Analytics supports integrated business planning, enabling scenario testing to quickly understand potential outcomes and risks.

Analyst Perspective

Planning for a More Uncertain World with Board International

Board’s platform enables financial planning and analysis groups to improve forecast and planning accuracy and accelerate analysis and reporting.

Analyst Perspective

Prophix’s Finance Platform Boosts Midsize Departments’ Effectiveness

Prophix’s cloud financial software accelerates reporting and analysis by automating manual tasks, freeing up valuable time to dedicate to broader goals.

Analyst Perspective

Vertex Manages End-to-End Indirect Tax Compliance Worldwide

Vertex automates and centralizes indirect tax management, eliminating error-prone manual processes and increasing control, visibility.

Analyst Perspective

A New Approach to ERP for a More Effective Finance Department

Cloud-based ERP will transform the value of the technology and the benefits it delivers, which include superior security, performance and efficiency.

Analyst Perspective

A Finance Department Data Strategy for ESG Compliance

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.

Analyst Perspective

The Rising Expectations for Finance Analytics

Organizations must use the right software and have the right data available to improve the scope, quality, business impact and timeliness of analytics.

Analyst Perspective

Planful Acquires for Marketing Performance in Planning Suite

Planful is bringing its FP&A tools to the marketing department, giving organizations a more comprehensive view of their planning, performance.

Research Perspective

Know Sooner, Act Faster to Gain Competitive Advantage

An important measure of the effectiveness of a finance and accounting department is the time it takes to close the books.

Analyst Perspective

Profitability Management Conquers Inflationary Pressures

Profitability management is a software-enabled discipline that integrates finance and sales to achieve an optimal balance of revenue and margin objectives.

Analyst Perspective

Building a More Predictive Finance Department

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

Analyst Perspective

Workday Rising Shows Advances for the Office of Finance

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.

Analyst Perspective

External Data Supports a More Predictive Finance Department

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

Analyst Perspective

Straight-Through Processing Reduces Friction and Builds Trust

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

Analyst Perspective

Fluence Technologies Automates for Fast Close-to-Report

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

Analyst Perspective

To Attract the Best Talent, Make Accounting Cool

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

Analyst Perspective

Sourcing and Purchasing Need Digital Transformation

“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

Viewpoint

Thriving in Uncertain Times by Planning with Agility

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

Viewpoint

Continuous Planning Provides Action, Agility and Accuracy

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

Webinar

Intercompany Financial Management

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

Webinar

Webinar : Revenue and Margin Improvement

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

Podcast

Business Continuity in the Public Sector

What business continuity lessons have public sector organizations learned during recent challenging times?

Viewpoint

Software Drives the 21st Century Tax Department

The challenges facing tax departments are mounting. Governments worldwide are scrutinizing companies’ reporting more closely in an attempt to raise revenue.

Webinar

Continuous Accounting for Recurring Revenue and Subscription Businesses

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

VentanaCast

From Data-Driven to Data Leader

The idea that finance organizations should play a more strategic role in company operations isn’t new. For some time, there's been general agreement that finance departments must evolve.

Infographic

CONTINUOUS PLANNING to Improve Business Performance

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

Infographic

MANAGE PROFITABILITY to Boost Your BOTTOM LINE

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

Videocast

Build An Actionable Profitability Management Initiative

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

Videocast

Moving Beyond Traditional FP&A

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

Videocast

The Need for Profitability Management

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

QandA

Accounting for Selling Costs Gets Complicated

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

QandA

Know When the Time is Right to Migrate

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

QandA

Why Invest in Profitability Management

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

Analyst Perspective

Anaplan at a Crossroads

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

QandA

Accounting in a Time of Crisis

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.

QandA

The Imperative for Sales Planning

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

QandA

Finance Q&A: Five Ways FP&A is Evolving

How will digital transformation affect the role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)? How will AI affect these FP&A organizations? Robert Kugel sheds light on how FP&A is evolving.

QandA

Ventana Research When Spreadsheets Aren’t Enough: Managing Accounting Standards Changes

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

QandA

Planning for Continuity in the Public Sector

Dedicated planning and budgeting software improves public sector finance department efficiency and enables responsive, high-quality service. Read the Q&A.

Self-Assessment

Enhancing Collaboration Between HR and the Office of Finance

In today’s fluid operating environment, organizations must be agile and resilient to deal with shifts in how and where people work, ever-changing regulations and mounting competition to attract and retain top talent. However, while addressing these c

White Paper

Introducing the Virtual Audit

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

White Paper

Continuous Accounting Improves Subscription Business Performance

The subscription or recurring revenue business model has grown in popularity over the past decade because it can create a tighter relationship between sellers and customers and establish a regular, more predictable revenue stream.

White Paper

The Digital Transformation Partnership

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

Market Perspective

OneStream Earns Office of Finance Digital Innovation Award for 2022

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

White Paper

The Value of Continuous Accounting for Business

Many senior finance executives want their department to play a more strategic role in the management and operations of their company.

White Paper

The Value of Close Automation for Midsize Organizations

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

White Paper

A Practical AI Strategy for FP&A

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

White Paper

Taking Control of Profitability

Profitability management is an analytics-driven business discipline designed to enable organizations to achieve their market share and profitability objectives.

Research Perspective

Continuous Accounting Drives Strategic Transformation

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

Research Perspective

Gaining an Edge in Banking with Business Analytics

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

Research Perspective

Let’s Talk about the Business, Not Just the Budget

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

Research Perspective

Achieve Agility in Planning and Execution

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.

Research Perspective

The Advance of Business-Owned Technology

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

Research Perspective

Build an Actionable Profitability Management Initiative

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.

Research Perspective

Business Continuity in the Public Sector

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

Research Perspective

Making Tax Provision the Solution, Not the Problem

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

Research Perspective

Digital Transformation in Payments and Spend Management

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

Research Perspective

The Impact of AI on Finance and Accounting

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.

Research Perspective

Bottom-Line Impact - How the Modern CFO Leverages Sourcing and Procurement

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.

Research Perspective

Next-Generation Workforce Planning

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

Research Perspective

Five Ingredients for Finance Transformation

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

Research Perspective

The Imperative for Integrated Planning

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

Research Perspective

Enabling Advanced Monetization

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

Research Perspective

Virtualize the Close

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

Research Perspective

Achieving Sustainable Continuity for the Office of Finance

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.

Research Perspective

Strategic Considerations for Financial Consolidation Systems

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

Research Perspective

Making the Case for Automating the Close

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

Research Perspective

Best Practices for a More Effective Close

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

Research Perspective

The Continuous Accounting Platform

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

eBook

The New Corporate Productivity Tool

Companies routinely collaborate in creating, editing, updating, proofreading, and approving composite documents.

eBook

Taking Control of Corporate Spend

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

eBook

Reimagine Tax Provision

The tax provision and tax reporting processes are getting greater attention from CFOs and audit committees for three reasons.

eBook

Ventana Research Five Things Every CEO and CFO Must Know About Pricing

More effective management of pricing usually is the biggest profitability lever available to corporations.

Videocast

Planning to Succeed

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

Analyst Perspective

FP&A Needs a Data Strategy for Meeting Internal ESG Goals

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

eBook

Taking Stock of Legacy Software

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

eBook

A Guide to Buying Close Management Software

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

Analyst Perspective

Adopt the Fast Follower Paradigm for Finance

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.

Analyst Perspective

A Faster Close Fixes Other Accounting Issues

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

Analyst Perspective

Finance Research Reveals No Progress to a Shorter Close

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

Analyst Perspective

OneStream’s Sensible ML Tasks AI for Business Planning

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

Analyst Perspective

A Data Pantry Speeds Development of Machine Learning Models

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

Analyst Perspective

AI Will Create Strategic Advantage for the Office of Finance

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.

Analyst Perspective

Using External Data in Planning

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.

Analyst Perspective

Sage Intacct Moves into Manufacturing to Spur Growth

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

Analyst Perspective

Reordered Global Trade Requires Agile Sales and Operations Planning

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

Analyst Perspective

Blockchain Payment Systems Have Significant Potential

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

Analyst Perspective

Spend Management is More Effective with Software and Cards

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

Analyst Perspective

Simplifying Budgeting and Planning is FP&A’s Mission

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

Market Perspective

Vertex Enhances Tax Compliance Technology

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

Analyst Perspective

Value-Added Tax Transformation Streamlines Compliance

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

Market Perspective

Fluence Offers Finance Streamlined Financial Close

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

Market Perspective

Infor is Innovative Vendor in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Infor, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Unit4 Expansion Targets Enhancements for People-Centric Organization

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

Market Perspective

Unit4 is a Vendor of Merit in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Unit4, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Planful is a Vendor of Merit in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Planful, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Prophix is a Vendor of Merit in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Prophix, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Webinar

Continuous Accounting for Recurring Revenue and Subscription Businesses

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.

Market Perspective

Vena Solutions is Vendor of Merit in 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Vena Solutions, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

insightsoftware is Vendor of Merit in Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about insightsoftware, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Analyst Perspective

Automate the Close Cycle for Consistently Better Performance

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

Market Perspective

Workday is a Vendor of Assurance in the Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Workday, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

OneStream Software is Exemplary in 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about OneStream Software, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Wolters Kluwer is Vendor of Assurance in Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Wolters Kluwer, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Anaplan is Exemplary in 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Anaplan, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Analyst Perspective

Why Automating Reconciliations Must be a Priority

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

Market Perspective

Board International is Exemplary in the Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Board, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

Oracle is Innovative in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about Oracle, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

SAP is Exemplary in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about SAP, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Market Perspective

IBM is Exemplary in the 2022 Business Planning Value Index

Ventana Research is sharing insights about IBM, drawn from our latest Value Index research, which assesses how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Analyst Perspective

Progress for AI in Office of Finance Applications

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

Analyst Perspective

Business Planning Software Unifies Siloed Planning

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

Analyst Perspective

The Value Index for Business Planning Classifies and Rates Vendors

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Value Index research, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements.

Analyst Perspective

The Office of Finance Market Agenda for 2022: Effectiveness and Profits

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.

Analyst Perspective

2022 Market Agenda: Digital Business Enables Organizational Resilience

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

Analyst Perspective

Augmented Reality Will Evolutionize Business Computing

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

Market Perspective

Teledyne Technologies Earns Digital Leadership Award in Office of Finance with OneStream Software for 2021

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

Market Perspective

Emburse Audit Employs AI to Improve Spend-Related Processes

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

Analyst Perspective

Configure, Price and Quote Software Supports Profitability Management

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

Market Perspective

Migros Aare Earns Overall Digital Leadership Award with Unit4 for 2021

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

Market Perspective

FloQast Automates Accounting for Faster Close

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

Market Perspective

Power ON Modernizes Business Planning

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.

Market Perspective

Xero Energizes Small Business with Cloud-Based Accounting and Finance

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

Analyst Perspective

Tackling ESG Reporting Challenges

Robert Kugel discusses the reality, predictions, considerations and benefits about Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) reporting for organizations.

VentanaCast

From Data-Driven to Data Leader

The idea that finance organizations should play a more strategic role in company operations isn’t new. For some time, there's been general agreement that finance departments must evolve. They must provide better insights on what just happened, guidan

Infographic

MANAGE PROFITABILITY to Boost Your BOTTOM LINE

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

QandA

Finance Q&A: Five Ways FP&A is Evolving

How will digital transformation affect the role of Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)?

Viewpoint

Building the Best Team and Reducing Turnover for Organizational Resilience

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.

Analyst Perspective

Fix Sales and Operations Planning to Improve Financial Efficiency

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

Analyst Perspective

Evolving ERP Systems Redefining Office of Finance Operations

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

Infographic

CONTINUOUS PLANNING to Improve Business Performance

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

Analyst Perspective

Digitally Transform Purchasing to Improve Performance

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

Research Perspective

Digital Transformation in Payments and Spend Management

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.

Analyst Perspective

Digitize Tax Departments for Increased Strategic Value

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

Viewpoint

Digital Transformation with Application Platforms

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

Videocast

Build An Actionable Profitability Management Initiative

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

Analyst Perspective

Managing Price Inflation Effectively with Technology

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.

Viewpoint

Three Key Planning Deficiencies Impeding Successful Decision Making

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

Viewpoint

Future-Proofing Forecasting

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

Analyst Perspective

Essential Technology for Continuous Planning

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

Analyst Perspective

Meet the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting Challenge

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.

QandA

Why Invest in Profitability Management

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

Analyst Perspective

Zuora Earns Office of Finance Digital Innovation Award for 2021

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.

Analyst Perspective

Finance IT Improves Departmental Performance

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.

Research Perspective

The Imperative for Integrated Planning

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

Analyst Perspective

Controllers: Always Be Closing

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.

Viewpoint

Gain Competitive Advantage Using External Data and Predictive Intelligence

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

White Paper

Introducing the Virtual Audit

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

Research Perspective

Business Continuity in the Public Sector

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

Analyst Perspective

Digital Process Reengineering Improves Business Performance

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

Research Perspective

Build an Actionable Profitability Management Initiative

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.

Analyst Perspective

Reduce Risk and Improve Departmental Effectiveness with Intercompany Financial Management

Ventana Research defines intercompany financial management as a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities.

Analyst Perspective

Integrated Business Planning Uses Zero-Based Budgeting to Improve Performance

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.

Analyst Perspective

Unit4 Democratizes Agile, Data-Driven Decision-Making

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.

Analyst Perspective

Consolidation Software Builds Staff Effectiveness in Midsize Companies

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

Analyst Perspective

FourQ Builds Confidence and Trust in Intercompany Financial Management

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

Analyst Perspective

Modern ERP Improves Organizational Performance

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.

Viewpoint

Five Reasons for Upgrading Your Entry-Level Accounting System

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

Viewpoint

Multinational Corporations Need Intercompany Financial Management

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

Analyst Perspective

IBM Planning Analytics Makes Planning Easier for Business Unit Leaders

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

Analyst Perspective

Trintech Speeds up Financial Close with Automation

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.

Analyst Perspective

A Virtual Audit Enables Savings Through Efficiency

The challenges of the pandemic prevented auditors from visiting client offices, which led to widespread adoption of remote audit processes.

Analyst Perspective

Streamlining Spending for Savings and Control

Irked by the need to account for every penny of his college expenses, poet Robert Frost penned the lines:

Analyst Perspective

Robotic Process Automation is a Core Finance Competency

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

Analyst Perspective

The Office of Finance Market Agenda for 2021: Accelerating Adoption of Digital Technology

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.

Analyst Perspective

Profitability Management: A CFO Priority to Gain Competitive Advantage

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.

Analyst Perspective

The Ventana Research 2021 Market Agenda: How Digital Effectiveness Impacts Organizational Agility

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

Analyst Perspective

Use Software for More Effective Tax Management

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.

Research Perspective

Achieve Agility in Planning and Execution

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.

Analyst Perspective

BlackLine Matches Receivables for Continuous Accounting

BlackLine recently held its first virtual user conference, Beyond the Black, where it detailed numerous additions and enhancements to its applications.

Analyst Perspective

Continuous Planning is Optimized with AI and External Data

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.

White Paper

The Digital Transformation Partnership

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

Viewpoint

The Way Forward with RPA

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.

Viewpoint

Agile Planning for Small and Midsize Organizations

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

Viewpoint

The CFO Answer Machine: Past, Present and Future Visibility for Small and Midsize Companies

Effective financial management requires the ability to understand an organization’s current condition while having visibility into its potential future state.

Analyst Perspective

Make Accounts Receivable Pay

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.

Videocast

Moving Beyond Traditional FP&A

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.

Analyst Perspective

Profitability Management is a CFO Imperative

One of the oddities of corporate management is that, as a rule, nobody oversees managing profitability.

Research Perspective

Achieving Sustainable Continuity for the Office of Finance

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.

Analyst Perspective

Value-Based Planning Improves Corporate Performance

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.

Analyst Perspective

Fundamental Change is Coming to ERP Systems

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are central to nearly every organization’s management of operational and financial business processes.

Podcast

Business Continuity in the Public Sector Podcast

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

Analyst Perspective

Sustainable Sourcing and Supply Chains

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.

Analyst Perspective

DADs Address the Mother of All Data Problems

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.

Analyst Perspective

Updating FP&A’s Mission - A New Approach for the 2020s

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.

Analyst Perspective

Scenario Planning is a Strategic Imperative

A great deal has changed in how finance and accounting departments operate since the start of 2020.

Analyst Perspective

OneStream Wins Our Innovation Award in Office of Finance with Analytic Blend

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.

White Paper

The Value of Close Automation for Midsize Organizations

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.

Research Perspective

Business Continuity in the Public Sector

Dedicated planning and budgeting software will help government organizations build the ability to maintain business continuity.

Analyst Perspective

Workiva Chains Liberates FP&A

Workiva recently introduced Chains, a visual workflow tool for the Workiva platform.

Analyst Perspective

2020 Reporting: Improving Visibility, Transparency and Perspective

FP&A and business analysts can make reporting more effective by reimagining how, what and when their company does its reporting.

QandA

Planning for Continuity in the Public Sector

Dedicated planning and budgeting software improves public sector finance department efficiency and enables responsive, high-quality service.

Analyst Perspective

The Corporate Tax Management Software Imperative

Recent events are forcing corporations to adopt dedicated software for tax provision, transfer pricing and tax analysis.

White Paper

Virtualizing the Close

Virtual accounting enables the department to achieve speed and resilience without sacrificing accuracy and control. Start by virtualizing the close.

Research Perspective

Virtualize 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

Analyst Perspective

Move Finance to the Cloud

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.

Analyst Perspective

Price Optimization: Cover Your Bases

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.

Analyst Perspective

Host Analytics Becomes Planful

Host Analytics recently announced it will now go by the name Planful.

Analyst Perspective

The Office of Finance is a Numbers Factory

Yes, it’s an easy metaphor, but a worthwhile one to consider. For the Office of Finance, figures are its raw material.

Analyst Perspective

Blockchains Pose Problems of Persistence and Trust

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.

Analyst Perspective

Workday Does Source-to-Pay

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.

Analyst Perspective

Make Automating Finance and Accounting a Priority

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.

Analyst Perspective

Fortune Favors the Prepared

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.

Analyst Perspective

Fortune Favors the Prepared (Video)

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.

Analyst Perspective

Rating CFO Performance in Audit Costs

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

Analyst Perspective

The Next-Generation CFO

I was invited to sit on a panel at CFO 3.0 events held in San Francisco and New York hosted by Sage Intacct.

Analyst Perspective

Three Essentials for a Digital Office of Finance

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.

Analyst Perspective

The Bottom Line is the Bottom Line

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.

Viewpoint

Plan for Business Continuity, Sustainability and Success

Dedicated software is the most effective tool for organizations seeking to plan for business continuity, sustainability and success

Analyst Perspective

Virtualizing the Close

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.

Analyst Perspective

The Central Ledger: Restructuring Accounting with Technology

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.

Analyst Perspective

Fortune Favors the Prepared

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.

Viewpoint

Building Agility Through Continuous Planning

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.

QandA

Accounting in a Time of Crisis

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

Research Perspective

The Advance of Business-Owned Technology

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

White Paper

Taking Control of Profitability

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.

Research Perspective

When Spreadsheets Aren’t the Right Choice

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.

Research Perspective

The Continuous Accounting Platform

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

Research Perspective

Five Ingredients for Finance Transformation

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

White Paper

Efficiently Achieving Sustainable Compliance

Still using spreadsheets for SOX404 and 302 compliance? Organizations need software, not spreadsheets, to achieve sustainable and efficient compliance

Research Perspective

Making the Case for Automating the Close

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

Research Perspective

Best Practices for a More Effective Close

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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Ventana Research 16th Annual Digital Innovation Award Winner

Workiva for Workiva ESG

Ventana Research 16th Annual Digital Leadership Award Winners

Using

Market Agenda Calendar

Ventana Research maintains a rigorous approach to its areas of research expertise through a methodology of processes and activities to ensure we provide the best possible insights on technology across business and IT. This is represented in our Market Agenda, which is a foundation for providing actionable information and guidance to help you identify opportunities for improved competitiveness and effectiveness. Other industry analyst firms lack methodology and a publicly available research agenda and are easily biased by clients and the industry. We take pride in our reputation for independence and provide our research calendar and agenda for visibility into the upcoming months of activity.

February

Analyst and Market Perspectives
AI is Strategic For the Office of Finance;
Technology Makes Purchasing More Productive;
The Competitive Necessity of Order to Cash Automation
Benchmark Research
Office of Finance in collection;
Business Planning in collection;
A Generational Change in ERP in collection
Revenue Management in collection
Dynamic Insights
S&OP in collection;
Finance Analytics in collection;
Smart Close promoted
Buyers Guide
Business Planning promoted