Constellation ShortList™ Cloud-Based Planning and Performance Management Platforms

Cloud-based planning platforms help companies with budgeting and forecasting, financial reporting and analysis, strategic planning, and operational planning and optimization across sales and human resources. The category emerged in the ’90s and ’00s as on-premises “performance management” systems aimed at large enterprises. Cloud-based planning platforms are rapidly replacing legacy systems and manual, spreadsheet-based approaches still used by small- and midsized organizations. Constellation estimates this market will grow from $7.1 billion in 2025 to $24.5B in 2031 at a 23% CAGR.

This category refers to cloud-based planning platforms that support budgeting, planning, forecasting, and analysis across financial and operational areas. These platforms also support or integrate with tools for financial closing and reporting. These cloud-native platforms make it possible to quickly deploy, configure and change these systems to support a broad base of users both within and beyond finance departments. Planning platforms bring vital what-if analysis capabilities for dealing with rapid growth, fast-changing business conditions, and the development of new products/business models.

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:

• Rapid cloud deployment and configuration
• Agile planning and forecasting capabilities
• Flexible modeling and “what-if” scenario planning capabilities
• Support for operational planning in areas such as sales and human resources
• Rich financial close and reporting capabilities, including options or integrations for regulatory reporting
• Modern, intuitive interfaces easing frequent planning, forecasting and analysis
• Artificial intelligence/machine learning-augmented capabilities supporting predictive analysis

The Constellation ShortList

Constellation evaluates more than a dozen solutions categorized in this market. The Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share, and internal research.

• Anaplan
• Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
• Onestream
• Planful
• Prophix
• Workday Adaptive Planning
• Vena

Frequency of Evaluation

Each Constellation ShortList is updated at least once per year. Updates may occur after six months if deemed necessary.

Evaluation Services

Constellation clients can work with the analyst and research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this Constellation ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.