EPM Software Selection

How do you know what EPM Software to choose? There are multiple factors you need to consider when selecting your tool.? We know your struggles and how to solve them efficiently.??

When selecting new Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software for budgeting, planning, forecasting, consolidation, reporting and analysis, Tax Pillar Two or ESG-reporting, companies look for the best-suited solution that meets their needs and budget. This is the starting point for a new trusted relationship and collaboration with the software vendor and implementation partner.??

Both software vendors and implementation partners get insights daily on how to serve their customers best. So, a selection process is an effective way to get to know each other and learn from previous experiences how to accommodate it. However, a selection process is often a rigid process to request information and proposals from vendors and implementation partners with hardly any interaction between the potential customer and business partners. So, how can you establish a trusted relationship with your partners? You need to give trust to receive trust.?

When you put the relationship first, the successful result of selecting and implementing new software will follow automatically. Collaboration and subject matter expertise are the keys to success.?

Of course, the software needs to meet the functional, non-functional, and financial requirements, and must be future proof from both a technical and compliance perspective. Via a simple approach, inlumi can support you in building trusted relationships and selecting the best suited EPM software for you. This process has the following steps:?

1. Develop a shared vision, guiding principles, and a roadmap on how to develop your EPM capabilities?
2. Analyse requirements, evaluation criteria and EPM-market?
3. Evaluate software and request proposals?
4. Select preferred software vendor and implementation partner?
5. Contract for license agreement and statement of work?

When it comes to selecting EPM software, avoiding common pitfalls is crucial. Here are some key challenges to watch out for during the software selection process:?

1. No clear perspective on where you want to be 5 years from now?
2. Too late involvement of key business users and other stakeholders like IT, legal and procurement?
3. Lack of understanding of software vendor’s best practices or key functionalities and how to implement and maintain?
4. Lack of understanding of the total cost of ownership in relation to the requirements and evaluation criteria set?
5. Underestimating the project readiness of the organization and the effort to be done by your own staff impacting the statement of work?

With a proven approach for a transparent process and building trusted relationships as a starting point, you will be better equipped to select software that truly serves your business needs and contributes to its success.?

If you want to learn more about how inlumi can help you select the best-suited EPM solution for your business, join our webinar on March 14th. The webinar will be 45 minutes long, and you will get to know more about our approach.??

Sign up here: https://inlumi.com/event/epm-software-selection/

Marco van der Kooij

Consulting Director at inlumi