Making the Most of IBM® Planning Analytics

As the era of big data takes hold, most businesses are experiencing a constant increase in their data volumes.

The organisations that leverage the power of this multiplying information will become the most competitive; inactivity is not an option if you want to succeed.

IBM® Planning Analytics tools are designed to allow you to exploit all of your data. They are also future-proofed, geared to be able to cope with further growth in volume and changing categories and styles of information.

Employing tools like Planning Analytics simply for budgeting and forecasting is no longer sufficient when they have so many additional capabilities:

• In-memory real-time analysis
• Seamless automation to source data
• Modelling
• Statistical analysis
• Trend analysis
• Sandboxing
• BI visualisation with Workspace, including scorecarding

Within your business, users of all levels will have different demands of the system. The board of directors will be looking for predictive analysis and financial results; accountants will be carrying out financial modelling; and others will be using trend analysis for planning purposes. The use of this single, agile tool can be spread throughout the company, increasing knowledge and learning across the board.

Performing end-to-end analysis will identify any areas of the organisation where more help is needed in carrying out advanced analytics processes. Employees should be using Planning Analytics to:

• Evolve insights into data for use across the organisation.
• Perform root cause analysis – arising issues are then flagged by the analytics model to the relevant departments which will be able to reveal the problem by interrogating the source data.
• Analyse patterns – data from both internal and external sources can be fed into models to help generate better customer satisfaction. Examination of external data allows for assessment of the competition.
• Monitor risk indicators – metrics alert the relevant users to potential risks before they develop.
  Adopt and promote new methods of information consumption, such as on mobile devices.

The days of legacy systems located on company servers are coming to an end. Cloud-based offerings from organisations such as IBM® ensure their applications remain at the cutting edge of technological advancements which allows businesses investing in this technology to keep up with the pace of change in their industries.

Here at Spitfire Analytics we provide services to work with your business, implementing planning solutions and training users throughout the organisation to make the most of your analytics platform. We forge long-term relationships with our customers, providing ongoing support in a rapidly developing market.

Get in touch to find out more about how we can help you to maximise your company’s potential.