Lead Management Software

Leveraging the software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) model, worldwide on-demand business performance management (BPM) solutions provider Adaptive Planning has released two major new solutions in its applications portfolio, Sales Planning & Analysis and Multi-Entity Planning & Analysis.  Built on top of the powerful new capabilities available in the Adaptive Planning Spring 2011 release, the two new solutions make it even easier for new types of users – corporate sales teams and complex corporations with multiple entities – to completely transform the way they plan and manage their businesses.

Both the Sales Planning & Analysis and Multi-Entity Planning & Analysis solutions will be generally available on April 8, 2011, according to Adaptive Planning

The two software packages leverage the powerful new multiple instance feature in Adaptive Planning’s Spring 2011 release. According to Adaptive Planning, an Instance is a self-contained financial model that includes all elements necessary to plan, report on, and analyze a business. Likewise, the Multiple Instance feature enables companies to set up, link together, and manage multiple Adaptive Planning instances to coordinate planning and reporting among multiple autonomous organizations. And the two new Adaptive Planning solutions address the greatest multi-organization planning and reporting challenges faced by companies today, said the supplier.

The company said that the Sales Planning & Analysis solution allows sales and management teams to streamline and enhance revenue forecasting and sales expense planning, dramatically improve pipeline and sales analysis, and seamlessly integrate sales and financial plans. As a result, the solution helps companies of all sizes drive more accurate forecasts with more predictable revenues, increase overall revenues, improve sales and marketing productivity, and strengthen organizational alignment around top-line performance.

In addition to leveraging the Multiple Instances feature, this solution can also utilize the Spring 2011 release’s new Hosted Connector capability for integration with salesforce.com, NetSuite (News - Alert), or other cloud-based solutions. Designed for both sales management and finance teams, the Sales Planning & Analysis solution allows companies to streamline and enhance revenue forecasting, plan sales expenses and compensation, analyze sales performance, and integrate sales and financial plans.

In essence, with the Sales Planning & Analysis solution, companies can create more accurate forecasts and more predictable revenue, increase revenues, increase marketing and sales productivity, and improve finance, sales and marketing alignment.

In a statement, said James Jones, VP of Finance at KANA, an Adaptive Planning customer, “It’s great to see Adaptive Planning extend their on-demand financial planning and reporting application into the realm of sales planning and analysis” He added, “The new solution will provide a great opportunity for companies like KANA to enhance collaboration among marketing, sales, and finance executives, and to drive improvements in sales forecasting and execution.”

The Sales Planning & Analysis Solution is available in 2 packages.  A single-instance package, designed for standalone operation within a sales organization, includes 1 Adaptive Planning instance, 1 administrator seat, 10 standard seats, one CRM connector (hosted or on-premise), and a framework of pre-defined accounts, formulas, sheets, reports, and dashboards. It is available for an annual subscription of $9,750 through September 30, 2011 ($12,000 thereafter).

Similarly, a 2-instance package, designed to support integrated sales and financial planning and reporting, includes 2 Adaptive Planning instances, 2 multi-instance administrator seats, 4 multi-instance standard seats, 10 single-instance standard seats, one CRM connector (hosted or on-premise), and a framework of pre-defined accounts, formulas, sheets, reports, and dashboards. It is available for an annual subscription of $15,000 through September 30, 2011 ($17,500 thereafter).

Likewise, Multi-Entity Planning & Analysis solution is aimed at larger companies that need to coordinate planning, reporting, and analysis among a complex set of organizational entities. Common examples include companies that have different geographic divisions, autonomous business units, or divisions with different systems infrastructures, as well as holding companies that manage multiple operating companies.

With Multi-Entity Planning & Analysis, according to Adaptive Planning, complex organizations can fundamentally transform their financial planning, reporting, and analysis. Key benefits include the ability to dramatically decrease planning and reporting cycle times throughout an entire organization , simplify headquarters administration, by eliminating the need to coordinate and consolidate dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of spreadsheets, support individual organizations’ planning and reporting requirements, and allowing autonomous organizations to determine how much information to share with others. Additionally, it enables different lines of business to re-plan, re-forecast, and create what-if scenarios on separate timelines, deploy the solution in phases, decreasing risk by rolling out to different business units over time, and make better decisions, based on more accurate and timely information.

“Adaptive Planning continues to leverage the SaaS model to deliver innovative solutions in the BPM space,” said Craig Schiff, CEO of BPM Partners, an industry analyst firm. He added, “These solutions are attractive alternatives to improve planning, reporting, and analysis within corporate sales teams and large, complex, multi-division organizations.”

The Multi-Entity Planning & Analysis solution is available in two packages. A 3-instance package, which includes licenses for 3 instances, 3 multi-instance administrative user seats, and 5 multi-instance standard seats, is available for an annual subscription of $12,000 through September 30, 2011 (and $15,000 per year thereafter). A 2-instance bundle, which includes licenses for 2 instances, 2 multi-instance administrative user seats, and 4 multi-instance full use seats, is available for an annual subscription of $11,000. Additional instances and seats can be added as required.

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