Supernova Award Category

Data to Decisions

The Problem

Anaplan's platform is the most flexible, scalable and collaborative cloud planning system in the world. One of the company's core values is disruption - the Anaplan team relentlessly innovates to deliver the best possible product experitnce for our customers. Recent innovations at Anaplan have focused on providing better tools in six key areas:

• Enable more efficient and effective application lifecycle management
• Broaden user choices for data visualization
• Add data integration options
• Provide better insight into business relationships related to planning
• Add new security options
• Give users ways to rethink the planning environment 

The Solution

Anaplan recently rolled out six significant innovations:

• Anaplan launched advanced Application Lifecycle Management, giving customers greater control and precision when managing applications across development, test and production environments.
• Anaplan provided integration with Tableau to make it easy for users to visualize data from Anaplan's planning platofmr.
• Anaplan integrated its platform with Informatica, extending the power of Informatica connectors to business users.
• Anaplan's Business Map function provides users with a comprehensive view of the planning landscape, revealing relationships among data sources and planning models. (General release planned for third quarter.) 
• The company plans to roll out additional security features in the third quarter, giving users the power to encrypt data using their own methods. 
• Anaplan's automated workflow tools give users the power to rethink planning processes. 

The results

Anaplan’s advanced Application Lifecycle Management allows users to adapt to changing conditions and track model history for greater transparency and auditability. This improves agility and data safety while enabling revision and access control.

Integration with Tableau makes it easier for users to access and act on information. It extends the Anaplan platform’s utility beyond planning and into application and execution and improves business speed and agility.

Anaplan’s integration with Informatica provides a way to connect data and automate data flow into a hub, improving users’ ability to create robust models while reducing time and cost requirements.

The Business Map gives users unprecedented insight into the factors driving specific actions. It provides context for business relationships and data sources, which in turn enables users to better understand the impact of actions, the value of data, and the utility of various models.  

The added security features will provide unmatched control over data stored in the cloud. The ability to create and distribute keys and access logging capabilities to meet industry privacy standards while reducing costs by a factor of 10 to 20.

Anaplan’s automated workflow tools bring everyone into the planning process, guiding users through the steps necessary to contribute and access data according to role, providing alerts, and distributing the benefits of connected planning.

Metrics

Anaplan achieved 75 percent annual year-over-year subscription revenue growth and earned $120 million in total revenue in fiscal year 2017. The company added more than 250 new customers, including American Airlines, Anheuser-Busch Inbev and Merck.

Anaplan’s customer base now comprises more than 700 customers in 40-plus countries, including well-known brands like Kimberly-Clark and Circle K. To meet growing demand for its connected planning solutions, Anaplan opened new sales offices in Japan and China while expanding its development presence in Central London.

The company's innovation earned numerous accolades. Recognition as a Leader in enterprise performance management in the 2016 Forrester WaveTM report included Anaplan’s “well-articulated strategy to embrace innovative technology.” Anaplan was also recognized as a Sales Performance Management Leader in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant and as a Leader in the 2017 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Strategic Corporate Performance Management Solutions. 

As companies recognize connected planning's power to drive digital transformation, demand for Anaplan's professional services has grown and the company's alliances with best-in-class consulting partners have depened. Technmology partnerships with major players including Tableau and Informatica improve customer capabilities and extends the benefits of connected planning across the business.

The Technology

Solution names:

• Application Lifecycle Management
• Tableau (integration partner)
• Informatica (integration partner)
• Business Map

Innovations also include new security features and automated workflow tools.

Disruptive Factor

Anaplan addresses persistent pain points that arise from companies’ inability to connect and share data when they plan. New data sources and business applications hold much potential and have changed the way departments operate, but until Anaplan reimagined the planning process and provided its unique platform, it was difficult for users to create and share solutions. Anaplan can bring everyone into the planning process and open new possibilities for data sharing and analysis across the enterprise.

Connected planning enables agility in a whole new way. Anaplan’s connected planning approach hasn’t just changed the planning solution industry—it has changed the way users conduct business in all industries. Connected planning allows companies to get a big-picture view of activities across the enterprise, model and understand how changes affect internal and external groups, and make better-informed business decisions.

Anaplan’s innovations have accelerated and democratized connected planning. Implementing traditional planning solutions often required a significant investment of IT resources, millions of dollars in funding and months or years of lead time. Anaplan can be up and running in 10–12 weeks; business units don’t have to wait for IT to grant access to the tools they need to respond to changing business conditions.

Shining Moment

Anaplan's recent innovations further democratize the planning process and open the doors to additional contirbutors from across the enterprise. The new workflow capability allows business stakeholders to model critical planning processes more naturally and accelerate business transformation. It also empowers the people who implement organizational plans at every level, giving them transparency into how the changes they make affect the overall plan.