NEUBRAINER, the official blog of Neubrain

Budgeting, forecasting and performance management is a difficult process for organizations, not to mention reporting on results can be challenging, regardless of size or industry. Enterprise planning is critical for managers that contribute to the overall success or failure of a program, project or product, especially in good and bad economic times. Despite the importance of accurate forecasting, budgeting is often seen as a demanding and inefficient process. Yet forward-thinking organizations see integrated planning and performance management solutions necessary to compete.                                                                                                                   

Earlier this month, Aberdeen Research released the results of their 2014 Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting and Enterprise Performance Management Benchmark Survey. The survey sought to discover the best practices and technologies used by organizations that are successfully navigating the financial planning, budgeting and forecasting process. So, what did the survey reveal?

Many government agencies and private corporations are nearing the end of the 7-10 year average lifespan of most budgeting and performance management software systems, causing more and more CFOs to explore new budgeting and performance management technologies. In fact, according to the “2013 Gartner Financial Executives International (FEI) CFO Technology Study,” nearly 60% of CFOs indicated that investing in analytics and decision-making was their top priority, as it should be. 

In the past decade, budgeting and financial planning technologies have transformed from error-prone manual data entry tools to an array of advanced analytical, integrated, and sophisticated real-time budget management software solutions, improvements that are only making the software selection even more difficult. Recent independent research revealed the top three software acquisition impairment factors:

• Lack of user input
• Incomplete requirements and specifications
• Changing requirements and specifications

To overcome software acquisition impairment, it is imperative to put time, effort and thought into your software selection process and establish quality requirements. 

Click on the infographic and discover just how important detailed, thought-through QUALITY requirements are to your budgeting software selection process or read the complete list here.