The four features of the new era of CPM identified by Nucleus

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Companies have started looking for new Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solutions, as the idea of CPM as an add-on to ERP solutions or as an extension of analytics tools has become outdated. The analysts of Nucleus have studied CPM software for many years and they have identified, what they call, CPM 2.0. Adopting these new, 2.0, systems leads to a reduction in costs, an increase in productivity, and a better ROI according to their research. Four critical features in these solutions are able to deliver these benefits, according to their research “Defining CPM 2.0.”

What are these four critical features?

1. Embedded analytics
   Many businesses see analytics applications as an extra burden or just as another task on their plate. But if one is to embed analytics into other applications, it creates automatic access to insights into daily workflows. Nucleus sees CPM at the forefront of the embedding of analytics because “it is focused around financial planning and analysis” and these analytics support the planning process. Furthermore, these benefits go beyond convenience as Nucleus has conducted several case studies and analyzed the ROI. Their results showed that productivity of finance departments was increased by approximately 12% with embedded analytics.
2. Integration with other enterprise applications
   As CPM analyses processes across departments to perform its role in budgeting, it needs as much data as possible. But most data in organizations is stored in a variety of systems and format and this data can only deliver business benefits when it is easily and quickly accessible. Having data in silos is “inefficient and can even be harmful because users are unable to get a complete picture, leading to invalid assumptions, or less than optimal decisions.” The research recommends that CPM is to be integrated with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. As the resources of ERP are linked to the budgeting role of CPM.
3. Flexible deployment options
   More and more companies are moving their data and applications to the cloud and this is where the future of enterprise systems is. Cloud deployments increase the long-term value because of lower upfront costs, lower cost of ownership, and an increase in the frequency of updates. However, there are still cases in which finance teams are not ready to move to the cloud. Therefore, “even if on-premise CPM deployments are being implemented, it is critical for vendors to offer an eventual move to a more modern deployment in the cloud for when finance teams come around.”
4. Real-time analysis
   To be ready for tomorrow’s world, predictive capabilities are needed. When CPM has these predictive capabilities, companies can better prepare for opportunities and timely identify risks. Real-time analysis is an essential part to leverage these capabilities and enable companies to make predictions within a margin of error.

A new era
CPM 2.0 keeps increasing its software power and capabilities to match the speed and intensity of the competition. According to Nucleus, in this era of CPM 2.0 “there is no reason for any finance department to continue to struggle with siloed data and inefficient, costly, legacy CPM solutions. “

Want to know more about the future of CPM? Find the Nucleus report here.

To learn about solutions that can take you into the era of CPM 2.0 right now, visit the IBM Financial Performance Management web page.