Analyst BARC describes the future direction of Business Planning

The BARC Institute and the International Controller Association (ICV) have interviewed the planning methods and tools of over 400 companies from all sectors for one the largest studies of this kind, The Planning Survey 14. The survey concludes that the merging of strategic, financial and operational planning as well as the integration of planning with other performance management processes offer huge potential for optimization.

Particular need for improvement is seen in regard to the use of software: 71 percent of respondents stated that their planning process was covered with several different tools; 86 percent cited Microsoft Excel as their solely or jointly used planning solution. “The study results show that planning processes that are supported with Excel stand-alone or a combination of different tools are more likely to have problems and take significantly longer. Having the planning process in a single tool saves time and resources”, said Dr. Christian Fuchs, Senior Analyst at BARC and co-author.

BOARD’s unique all-in-one environment allows companies to seamlessly integrate planning with any other performance management process: from Profitability Analysis to Financial Reporting, from Financial Consolidation to Strategy Management. “Now that companies become more aware of the importance of planning, they also value BOARD’s particular strength, simulation.  By combining OLAP, Scenario Management, Advanced Data Entry and Analytics with a highly flexible data model, BOARD really stands out from the competition”, said Giovanni Grossi, CEO of BOARD International in response to Fuchs‘ statement.