When evaluating enterprise software solutions, there is nothing more valuable than learning from the experiences of other organizations who have already implemented the software. This feedback can be gathered from customer references provided by the vendor, or from third party surveys of a broad set of customers.
A good example of a 3rd party survey of corporate/enterprise performance management software customers is the recently-published Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds® Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Market Study.
Leveraging the Wisdom of Crowds
The Wisdom of Crowds® EPM Market Study builds on the previous four years of Enterprise Planning Market Studies published by Dresner Advisory and reflects the shift in the market towards a more holistic approach to performance management vs. relying in individual point solutions.
According to Dresner Advisory, this report analyzes user perceptions, intentions, and realities associated with enterprise performance management (EPM). Enterprise planning still forms an important aspect of EPM, but this new report includes capabilities such as artificial intelligence, data-driven decision-making, and how EPM impacts other enterprise systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP). The 2019 survey reflects the input of users across geographies, functions, organization size, and vertical industries.
What’s New in Enterprise Performance Management?
This year’s report highlighted several key market trends, including the following:
- Current adoption levels indicate the market for enterprise performance management is still maturing and has room for future growth.
- Finance and Operations are the functions with the highest levels of enterprise performance management adoption today, with 64 percent and 50 percent respectively.
- Most respondents view enterprise performance management as an important technology. Eighty-seven percent rate enterprise performance management as critical, very important, or important.
- Large (1,001-10,000 employees) and very large organizations (greater than 10,000 employees) view enterprise performance management as significantly more important than small (1-100 employees) and mid-sized (101-1,000 employees) organizations.
- Only 9 percent of respondents prefer to source enterprise performance management from their ERP vendor, whereas 41 percent consider all types of vendors, and 35 percent prefer to source these capabilities from a specialist enterprise performance management vendor.
- Annual financial budgets are the highest priority planning capability in enterprise performance management, although respondents highly rank more advanced capabilities such as rolling forecasts, strategic planning, and linking strategic plans to annual budgets.
- Respondents are split on the impact of machine learning and AI in enterprise performance management. Twenty-nine percent of respondents see significant potential in AI and machine learning, while 21 percent feel that users will resist its adoption and 50 percent are undecided.
- Respondents have a clear preference for cloud enterprise performance management solutions compared to on-premises deployment.
OneStream Shines Again
What’s unique about this study is that the results are based 100% on surveys of customers using EPM software. Vendors are evaluated based on 33 criteria covering:
- Sales/Acquisition Experience
- Value for Price
- Quality and Usefulness of Product
- Quality of Technical Support
- Quality and Value of Consulting Services
- Vendor Integrity
- Whether Vendor is Recommended
This was OneStream’s second year of inclusion in the Dresner Advisory Wisdom of Crowds Study and, once again, the results were outstanding. As you can see in the spider chart below, OneStream Software is substantially above the overall sample for all measures, and we received a perfect “5” recommend score. And for the many of the metrics, OneStream’s 2019 scores were above our 2018 scores.
Dresner Advisory provides two models to help clients understand the EPM market. Their Customer Experience Model positions vendors based on their combined scores on Product/Technology vs. Sales and Service metrics on two axes, positioning vendors into one of four quadrants.
Their Vendor Credibility Model considers how customers “feel” about their vendor, plotting value for the price paid against the integrity and recommend measures, creating a “confidence” dimension. The upper-right quadrant in both models contains the highest-scoring vendors, and those considered leaders in customer experience and vendor credibility.
Based on our scores, OneStream was positioned as an Overall Leader in both the Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility models.
Commenting on OneStream’s results in the study, Howard Dresner, Founder and Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services said, “In 2019, OneStream remains consistently above the overall sample for all measures and is an Overall Leader in the Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility models. It is best in class for a number of measures in sales, value, and product. It has a perfect recommend score.”
Learn More
Achieving 100% customer success is key mission of OneStream Software and is our top priority companywide. Being named a leader in Customer Experience and Vendor Credibility by Dresner Advisory Services validates our approach and recognizes the ability of OneStream to address the advanced planning and performance management requirements of global enterprises.
To learn more, download a copy of the 2019 Dresner Advisory Enterprise Performance Management Market Study.
Re-posted with permission from Source
