How to choose the best Enterprise Performance Management software for your organization?

Setting up automated processes to support your Enterprise Performance Management brings numerous benefits and enables your organization to make the right strategic and operational decisions. It is, however, essential to pick the right software from the wide range of available solutions. After all, the substantial investment usually means you are in for a multi-year journey alongside the chosen technology.

Main EPM software selection components

Every Enterprise Performance Management tool has its own strengths, weaknesses, characteristics and focus area. Therefore, when looking out for a new software package, some considerations should always be made. These translate into a number of components or criteria for a thoughtful EPM software selection.

Functionalities

What are the business requirements that should be met? Are there specific functionalities that the EPM tool should cover (planning, budgeting, consolidation, management reporting, ESG,...)? Do we need software dedicated to one aspect of EPM or should it be a solution with a generalist approach?

While one EPM tool might focus predominantly on financial consolidation, another solution could be centred around planning and budgeting. By reflecting on the precise needs of your organization in the early stages of the selection process, you will be able to compile a first shortlist.

Usage

Who will use the EPM solution? Will it be utilized by different departments, such as sales, HR and finance, or will the financial controlling department be the only end user? How do you want to follow up the EPM processes? How important is the ease of use?

Certainly, when several people and divisions are involved, EPM tools might be important to distribute tasks in a process flow or function as a platform for mutual communication. These specific practical capabilities should be considered along with the substantive functionalities, as they differ largely between software packages as well. It is also important to consider the ease of use of the solution, including the possibility of making future changes yourself. Some tools really focus on user friendliness so it becomes easy to change processes in their application, whilst other solutions tend to be more technical hence more complex to adopt.

Technical considerations

Can the tools on the shortlist be easily integrated into the current IT landscape of the company? Which potential technical limitations could be encountered (and must be avoided)? Will the solution hold sensible information that should be protected? Are the necessary security settings in place? Who will maintain and update the system?

Investing in a new application is an important decision, which comes with significant technical implications and thus considerations. To optimally connect organizational concerns with the offerings, it is recommended to involve the IT department in the selection trajectory.

It is crucial to immediately think about the situation after the implementation, when the complexity of performing maintenance work, minor modifications and system updates might vary between tools. The (non-)availability of in-house expertise and the resources for training, also in terms of usage, should be taken into account.

Implementation partner

What do we expect from the implementation partner? Are there relevant references of implementations in the same sector or EPM processes? Is there a cultural fit with our organization? What support options are available? Is the partner financially solvent?

Implementing a new EPM solution will always require an implementation partner. As always the stronger the knowledge and experience of the partner, the better the chances are for a smooth project. However, next to expertise, it is also important to consider cultural fit and accessibility of the partner since a lot of interaction will be needed in the implementation project. Also after the implementation, the relationship with the partner will remain active for change requests and support. Therefore, selecting the right partner is a very important aspect of the selection process.

Budget

What budget can be made available for the EPM investment?

A vital final question. Although all tools come with a significant cost, there are substantial price differences between them.

Depending on the available budget, it will sometimes be necessary to make a distinction between ‘must haves’ and ‘nice to haves’ when it comes to tool functionalities and selection criteria. Building on that, it is certainly a possibility to end up with a mix of software solutions (e.g. a separate tool for consolidation or ESG reporting). However, be aware that a combination of tools often implies the acquisition of multiple licenses and increases the complexity of data integration between these solutions.

How can TriFinance help you in the EPM selection process?

The lengthy list of pertinent considerations leaves no doubt: picking the right Enterprise Performance Management tool(s) is a rather challenging task. Not least because the software landscape evolves at a fast pace, it is a good idea to seek professional support. Know that TriFinance can assist you in various stages of the EPM selection process, always from a critical and software independent perspective.

• Facilitating workshops to detect all (prospective) business and IT requirements
• Translating concrete needs into technical functionalities
• Describing organizational budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes
• Defining future software related roles and responsibilities
• Listing eligible software providers
• Providing information on functionalities, licenses, implementations, …
• Preparing PoC’s
• Organizing software demos
• Creating a checklist with weighting factors to make a final decision