Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) refers to the software and processes that enterprises use to plan, analyze and report on business performance. It is a vital part of managing daily operations and financial growth, and with cloud-based platforms like Oracle EPM, they are an affordable and scalable solution for organizations.
We get many questions from the field when engaged in the EPM sales cycle. We thought it would be helpful to share a few of the frequently asked questions we hear from our clients and prospects and the guidance we typically provide. (Remember though – every client is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution!)
1. How do I know if I need EPM?If you are working with a partner, they will likely look at your current tools, applications, and processes to get a sense of where you are experiencing challenges or inefficiencies. If you are working with old legacy systems or manual processes, chances are that an investment in a modern EPM solution would have a great ROI for your business, saving you time and allowing you to extract additional value from your data.
2. Which solution makes the most sense for my organization?Oracle provides a range of EPM applications including Oracle Planning & Budgeting Cloud Service, Oracle Financial Consolidation & Close Cloud, Oracle Hyperion Roadmap and Implementation, EPM Support Services, as well as Advisory Services. Following the audit mentioned above, your partner will have a much better sense of which tools you need and can make a formal recommendation to improve your business performance.
3. What does the training and implementation process look like?The EPM training and implementation process should be co-built in partnership with the clients’ internal teams. The best way to learn is by doing. This process ensures the optimum real-life knowledge transfer and training. Formal training should also be conducted to cover the overall tool functionality in the context of what has been implemented.
It is important that employee training is part of the change strategy (as you cannot extract value from new tools if no one knows how to use them). Your implementation should not be considered complete until you have the following guidelines met: 100% user adoption; a solution that is easy for finance to support and enhance; and can align and flex to meet current and future strategies.
4. When will my business begin to reap the benefits of EPM software?The short answer, immediately! EPM tools are designed to empower the financial side of your organization, contributing to the overall growth of the business. You will see an improvement in your budgeting process, cost and profitability analysis, as well as close time and reporting – a tangible return on your investment. As soon as the solution has been implemented and is in use, your financial and leadership teams will have greater visibility into all of your operational activities, with greater accuracy than ever before.
Read more about EPM in Apps Associate’s
two-part introductory series