The implementation of strategic plans is a high-risk operation, with failure rates exceeding 70 percent over the past five years. However, it doesn’t need to be this way. Our goal in this Market Overview is to help executives understand the potential of EPM and the possible solutions to manage it in a more systematic way. Yet, it doesn’t stop there. Strategic planning must be complemented by budgeting and business planning, though many would say the other way around. Plus, these planning initiatives often require activity-based costing/management as well as cost/profit optimization. We will explore all three planning types, complementary software, integrated business intelligence, and the use of professional services.
This report seeks to help CFOs and other executives explore why budgeting, planning and strategy management are critical to the organization. Also, it will explore the challenges to getting it right, Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) solutions available to manage the planning/strategy process, and recommendations to get started. Other more operational aspects of EPM such as consolidation and disclosure will be addressed in a later research report.