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I was reading the latest Gartner report on Cloud Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions in which Adaptive Planning and Planful figure prominently. When we started FutureView, I thought that these were our competitors – as we all strive to deliver solutions that enhance the finance team’s ability to closely manage company performance that is tightly linked to corporate strategy and execution. That said, after watching client after client struggle to implement Adaptive Planning and Planful (Gartner* says that it takes, on average, six months to implement Planful’s solution), it is clear that I was comparing apples to oranges.
Planful and Adaptive are software platforms on which you can build a forecasting and budgeting process. After purchasing a subscription to their software and further investing in configuration and deployment services, in six-to-nine months you’ll have access to a platform through which you can prepare your annual budget.
Think of it this way -- Purchasing Adaptive and Planful are the equivalent of gaining access to an auto mechanic’s workshop full of spare parts which, in theory, could be used to assemble a fully functioning car. But you still need to bring all of the effort and know-how to best assemble the car.
FutureView is different. What we deliver is a fully realized platform for reporting, forecasting and budgeting that has industry-proven best practices and financial processes pre-loaded. FutureView not only encompasses the technology solution and hosting platform, but also the know-how and methodologies that a Finance function needs to run reporting, forecasting and budgeting. It is a road-ready automobile, fully loaded with all the bells and whistles.
What we deliver is a fully realized platform for reporting, forecasting and budgeting that has industry-proven best practices and financial processes pre-loaded
This comprehensive package of solution and best practices is what truly differentiates FutureView. If you are a NetSuite or Quickbooks Online user, FutureView promises to have you up and running in less than 10 business days.
Let me repeat that...10 business days. In just two weeks, you’ll have a platform that is directly connected to your accounting system at a transaction level, and you will be preparing monthly budgets and forecasts at a detailed level.
As any good accountant will tell you, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. Imagine how much your Company will save by having control over their financial decisions in ten days vs. six months. In the time it takes to gain access to an Adaptive Planning or Planful solution, FutureView will have paid for itself, and be contributing to your bottom line.
In just two weeks, you’ll have a platform that is directly connected to your accounting system at a transaction level, and you will be preparing monthly budgets and forecasts at a detailed level
The reason FutureView is able to get you on the road at full-speed so fast is that the platform was built by finance folks for finance folks. While Planful and Adaptive are built by talented software engineers who have an intellectual understanding of FP&A, FutureView is designed by people who occupied the same finance roles as our clients – CFOs, Controllers, and FP&A Directors – and our empathy comes through in every aspect of the platform’s design and our supporting services.
While an Adaptive or Planful client experiences the clinical understanding of a Silicon Valley software engineer who has studied the problems Finance might face with forecasts and budgets, a FutureView client gains the benefit of decades of hard lessons learned in the trenches of the Finance organization.
If you have six months to spare and the deep expertise and bandwidth to invent your forecasting and budgeting process from the ground-up – Adaptive and Planful may be good alternatives for you. However, if like most companies, you are in the middle of the race and you need to get control of your financial operations today, we’d be pleased to introduce you to the FutureView Platform – built for Finance people by Finance people.
*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions, August 2019.
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