OneStream, the leading provider of financial performance management solutions has promoted Agium EPM to Diamond partner level. The news positions Agium EPM, a dutch-based business focused on EPM as one of the only two companies to have been awarded this level in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Founded over 20 years ago, Agium EPM has developed a strong record in Benelux and within Europe with services ranging from corporate consolidation, financial planning and reporting and business intelligence solutions. The business has provided a service to over 300 customers and generated in excess of 700 projects. When OneStream began business in the United States in 2010, Agium EPM took notice of its place in the EPM market. Pascal Walk, the managing partner at Agium believes that the award is big news for the business. Walk highlights that Agium EPM was one of the first consultancies in Europe to integrate the software, emphasising that its early adoption had enabled the business to stay ahead of other competitors.

Walk explains that only a few other European companies were using the platform when they started their partnership with OneStream. Today, they have become recognised as a next-gen EPM provider, being used by a number of large businesses in EMEA. Over the years, Agium has developed a strong knowledge and understanding to create targeted OneStream solutions that can benefit all users.

Martijn Van Bommel, Director of Sales and Business Development at Agium EPM explains that the upgraded partner status confirms their strong long term relationship with OneStream. Van Bommel highlights that they continue on their joint mission to provide a service to the modern finance world, delivering a 100% customer success rate. 

Software-as-a-Service has created a number of opportunities, replacing conventional systems with cloud-based services, enhancing the overall user experience. Across an entire business spectrum, all departments are experiencing the benefits the technology can offer. Teams can work collaborate efficiently and finance teams are capable of utilising large data sets on the cloud and generate insightful information.

There has clearly been a number of benefits from a human perspective but progressions within the enterprise world have meant that IT teams need to capable of managing a different environment than before, a multi-cloud environment.

Multi-Cloud Management

This new infrastructure is utilised to manage a range of workloads and has to be capable of managing with a rise of SaaS systems that support business functions that were previously covered by traditional on-site products. Furthermore, IT departments need to ensure their system has progressed in line with how the new workforce operates.

Workforces have progressed and are more dynamic. Employees expect continuous access to cloud-based systems, from any location. In a recent ESG Enterprise SaaS survey, 42% of enterprises suggested that over half of distributed or international employees have a low-level experience with vital SaaS applications. When these areas deteriorate, the potential for a business to remain competitive can also suffer. It is evident that businesses still need to focus on ensuring they deliver all of the benefits that SaaS has to offer.

There are several areas where SaaS can become a challenge for businesses, all of which can be fixed. However, all require dedicated personnel capable of delivering an approach to how their infrastructure is managed.

Proximity – SaaS applications can operate efficiently in the office space but quite often, users are working in a number of remote locations or traveling for business. With employees working away from the office, more people are experiencing problems will slower performance and poorer productive user experience.

Bandwith

In urban areas, we are often provided with affordable and fast bandwidth for offices. However, bandwidth isn’t as affordable in all locations and in some instances, cloud traffic can slow down dramatically if the bandwidth level does change. In locations where bandwidth is affordable, a movement to SaaS can require significant improvement to avoid any impacts on overall application performance.

Security and Compliance

SaaS tends to be more effective when implemented in every area of business. In some cases, such as with compliance, employees often require businesses to backhaul SaaS traffic via a data system due to their position on security. This creates an additional step of infrastructure, which can result in further delays and reduce overall performance.

Remote Working

Businesses today are increasingly mobile and include a number of mobile workers, accessing systems remotely or while travelling. In most cases, this includes accessing applications out of the hands of IT, which means measuring performance is more of a challenge and will inevitably become even more complicated in the near future. As employees become even more mobile, businesses will need to adapt their infrastructure and continue to manage visibility.

The Solution is Visibility

While there may be a number of challenges businesses may experience, there is a singular area that incorporates all of these issues and can effectively be fixed by applying a single solution.

Visibility on a large scale means IT teams are capable of understanding the user experience from anywhere. If used correctly, a visibility solution will create a simpler technique to enhance the performance of SaaS products and ensure a business remains productive. IT professionals want to ensure a simplistic process they can get from SaaS applications and ensure they have control over how user experience. In today’s generation, a matter of seconds can have a significant impact on levels of success.

Christian Klein, the new co-CEO of SAP has focused his attention on two big areas for this year. Whilst both will be a challenge, it is possible to see progress in both goals. In a discussion with Yahoo Finance at the World Economic Forum, Klein raised the importance of up-skilling technology professionals.

The necessity to retrain technology professionals is believed by many industry experts as an essential move to unlock the full potential of technology over the next few years. Klein believes that training is essential and will have significant future sales and profits at SAP.

Klein refers to the technology at SAP, stating that if workers are unable to utilise SAP’s new productivity tools to their best ability, businesses may reduce their orders. In reality, businesses may receive a lower return on their technology investment.

A new report delivered by Intel states that just over 35% of businesses raised the challenge of ‘technical skill gaps’ and that this was preventing them from completely benefiting from investment in technology. A further 18% of businesses suggest data management and interpretation as top employee challenges.

Klein’s second goal for SAP is to focus on accelerating cloud computing subscriptions, with a target of reaching $35 billion in revenue by 2023. This target follows on from Bill McDermott, the previous CEO of SAP who stated back in 2018 that he planned to triple cloud computing subscriptions. If this is reached, SAP’s market cap could lie in the range of $280 to 340 billion. Klein informed Yahoo Finance that SAP is on target with predictions of over $32 billion in sales this year and a current market cap standing at just over $172 billion.

SaaS is a reputed business model with proven success and has become a popular tool across many industries. The innovative model enables businesses to work directly with customers or quite commonly, use a separate partner. By using a partner, these companies effectively ‘own’ the customer relationship and the attached data, probably the most critical part of any business.

Many SaaS focused businesses are realising the necessity of creating a direct relationship with the customer, providing the business with greater control and further options. The transition from the regular SaaS business model involving a channel partner to a multi-dimensional platform positions the SaaS company at the core of the model and in a more controlling position. Whilst believed to be more effective, the multi-structured approach means SaaS companies need to establish connections with each part of the model and view each as a customer that has requirements, this incorporates the channel partners and the end customers. 

Changing the approach

Generally, small SaaS businesses have developed specific agreements with their customers or suppliers as the business has developed. In nearly most instances, the SaaS business remains hidden to the customer using the service via their channel partners.

To deliver a successful service, SaaS businesses need to consider their business from a B2B and B2C perspective. Industry analysts believe the reshaping of these relationships represents the biggest challenge for the SaaS marketplace, involving meeting the needs of all members of the network.

Each section of the chain is looking to expand and the SaaS business needs to capture the areas where they can deliver and support each business in reaching that goal. To remain successful, SaaS businesses need to be adaptive and capable of transforming their existing models. Making the transition to a modern business model is likely a step that many companies need to make to remain competitive in an environment dominated by core technology.

Leading connected planning business Anaplan recently wrote a piece for Forbes on the focus for this year. Looking back at 2019, there were a number of uncertainties relating to various challenges including Brexit and Tariffs. Businesses battled to maintain prosperity during a transition in consumer demands and a continued rise in competition.  

This year is anticipated to be another period of uncertainty, with elections influences market stability and signs of continued changes in global trading trends. Anaplan believes that those businesses likely to experience success and further development will be the ones that are capable of adapting to change and transform periods of uncertainty into a competitive advantage. Yet, in reality, many companies continue to use long-range planning systems, resulting in significantly slower response time to potential changes in the marketplace.

Real-Time Planning – a necessity?

Traditional long-term plans observed a market over several years and leaders would use a combination of current market trends and historical information to make predictions about the future. Many of these findings are used for large periods of time, not recognising the continuous market changes. As a result, the data generated is not accurate and more importantly, the information generated and used to make decisions is not necessarily correct. 

Evolving market conditions and periods of uncertainty are effectively eliminating the benefits of implementing a long term plan. This was proven last year with many businesses that showed signs of agility creating higher levels of success over their competitors. 

Businesses today need to be far more flexible than ever and responsive to change. For this year, business leaders should avoid long term planning tools and implement accurate, short term planning systems to target growth. This is exactly where connected planning systems can really support businesses in achieving this.

Connected Planning Systems

Connected Planning can support operations in a business, boosting productivity and transforming decision-making processes. Business leaders require a strategy that incorporates our ever-changing landscape, the benefits of technology and new regulations in our markets.

Connected Planning systems remove manual, time-consuming work, exactly the type of jobs you would associate with long-range planning. The system provides a singular platform, incorporating all parts of a business and delivering one channel of information. This translates into clarity, a source of information incorporating an entire company and enabling leaders to understand how their decisions will influence the whole company.

Decision-makers have the ability to define multiple scenarios, blending a range of variables to define what impact future market changes could have on business performance. Businesses can feel secure and more confident in their plans and use this time of uncertainty as an advantage.

A recent report by Forrester into the total economic impact led by Anaplan believes that investing in a connected planning tool can generate a number of improvements for a business. The study concluded that within three years, the Anaplan Connected Planning platform can generate an over 300% increase in return on investment.

Uncertainty is expected to be a common trend this year and consequently, companies that have the capability to plan in real-time will likely stay ahead of unstable times. Removing the long term plan and implementing a connected planning solution provides business leaders with an added level of agility. Integrated in the right way, connected planning provides businesses with a clear, accurate strategy to tackle future market changes and continue to advance during 2020.

AI has expanded in recent years and become widely accepted in businesses today. Implementing new AI tools enables businesses to remain efficient and gain a competitive edge in their selected market. Forbes recently released a number of top trends related to the AI market for 2020:

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics utilised a combination of machine learning, historical data and other systems to generate potential scenarios for the future. Using these tools enables businesses to study certain trends and implement these to enhance businesses’ performance across many levels.  Predictive analytics is growing rapidly and is helping businesses become more efficient thanks to several factors:

• Simplistic and affordable options 
• Larger volumes of available data and information from a range of innovative tools
• Rising market saturation encouraging businesses to seek new ways to diversify

The predictive analytics market is expected to rise to nearly $11 billion by 2022 and has recorded over 20% compound growth for the last 3 years.

Rising Anomaly Detection Tools

There are daily occurring problems for businesses that are generally due to human-related errors and although relatively minor, they can collectively incur high costs for a business. Anomaly detection is becoming more popular to determine problems before they occur. This AI-focused system uses existing and historical data to determine certain datasets that really stand out, enabling a business to find certain errors in security, marketing and other parts of a business.

On the flip side, anomaly detection can also be used to discover beneficial gains for a business, such as determining the most efficient PPC strategy or targeted keywords to focus on SEO campaigns.

Machine Learning Cybersecurity Tools

Security continues to be a global concern and the potential of losing data is something that no business wishes to experience. According to Forbes, nearly 70% of small businesses experienced a cyberattack in 2018, hence the need for cybersecurity in machine learning systems. These services utilise AI to continuously monitor how a business operates, detecting any potential threats before they may cause damage. The tools allow a business to run smoothly and remain protected. For example, Microsoft Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is a great example, deploying cloud AI and machine learning tools to identify threats and potential errors that could cause problems for a business.

Increased user-friendly AI platforms

For many businesses, AI can seem complicated and new technology can be more complex and slower to be integrated for many. This, however, is changing with Gartner suggesting that nearly 40% of businesses have implemented AI in their business, as this figure is rising. This is largely down to the rising release of user-friendly AI technology being released, enabling simplistic integration and data production. Users don’t necessarily need to be experts to use these tools and can successfully generate valuable information for their business.

AI for productivity and work balance

AI is generally regarded in terms of data and machines, but there is an increase in AI technology being applied to enhance the human side of a business. As described, AI can be utilised for anomaly detection and cybersecurity trends, allowing computer technology to do what it does best, whilst the people managing the business can focus on applying their expertise. PwC predicts AI will generate over $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030. They predict that most of this revenue will come from driving consumer behvaiour, boosting products and enhancing productivity. For example, the business VMware integrated AI-driven solutions to manage content and editing as it looked to scale further. The saved time enabled their writers to focus on training, onboarding new personnel and generating new and efficient systems.

Leading connected planning business Anaplan has confirmed the release of a new AI-powered system for Predictive Sales Planning, supporting companies in managing their overall design and execution of sales and revenue strategies. The goal is to enable businesses to grow revenue at a quicker rate and create a competitive edge within their selected market.
As we move into 2020, sales professionals are facing a rising level of urgency to deliver quicker and more efficient rates of revenue growth in the circumstance of a reduced buying rate.

Anaplan’s Predictive Sales Planning technology provides sales professionals with the potential to measure accounts via AI-focused information, including company growth trends, business partnerships, hiring trends and buyer intent. All of these predictive tools support companies in enhancing their sales performance and the opportunity to select specific accounts with the best ability to buy.

Jason Loh, the Global Head of Sales Solutions at Anaplan explains that in a complex selling market, revenue leaders tend to find it difficult to select the best areas to focus on to deliver their commercial goals. The Predictive Sales Planning capabilities enhance the power of AI and ML to support sales professionals with the intelligence that improves overall growth and development. The Anaplan platform will allow sales professionals to make quick and efficient decisions about new markets, opportunities to invest and the ability to streamline revenue operations.

The predictive sales planning technology is available in four sections:

Predictive Account Segmentation and Scoring – combining internal data with predictive tools related to profile and buyer intend to define certain accounts with a better opportunity to buy.

Predictive Territory Planning – defines certain sales areas across selected factors such as industry, geography and product. It enables users to create a territory plan based on a combination of historical details and predictive insights.

Predictive Sales Capacity Planning – enhances coverage models along with sales factors and buyer insights with the aim of delivering revenue targets.

Predictive Quota Planning – enables allow sales leaders to create fair and realistic targets, goals and quotas by implementing predictive insights, buyer signals and intent-related information.

Robert Munoz, the research director of sales operations strategies at Forrester explains that sales leaders anticipate a potential slowdown in buying, spurring the need to drive revenue growth further. Munoz believes that sales professionals who focus on their sales intelligence capabilities, combining predictive AI solutions will deliver a higher level of productivity and sales.

The Predictive Sales Planning potential is now available on the Anaplan platform.

SaaS is continuing to expand as businesses of all sizes integrate the software-as-a-service model to meet their application requirements. Studies suggest that the use of SaaS within business increased by 68% between 2017 and 2018. Innovative companies are implementing the benefits of SaaS, offering subscription pricing options to their customers and enabling software to be used as a service, reducing overall management, maintenance, and cost. The benefits are clear but there is also an important area that needs to be considered with the rise of SaaS in business and this relates to the storage of data and protecting this information for the future.

Recent reports indicate that nearly 50% of businesses are depending on their selected SaaS system to protect their data, and a further 25% have no protection plan in place at all for their SaaS data. Whilst most SaaS vendors are investing significantly in data protection, their focus is placed on major data disruption rather than accidental removal of certain fails. Nearly all SaaS licenses available today require the customer to share the responsibility of data protection. What this means is the provider will take ownership of certain parts of the data, but the customer also has responsibility in other areas. This tends to mean that the vendor provides a secure platform and service but the data involved in the process belongs to the customer and so is their responsibility to keep safe.

Potential Issues with SaaS and Data Protection

Let’s take the scenario where certain files at your business are accidentally deleted and are left for a period of time resulting in being permanently deleted from your system, with no precautionary measure to back up the files. Many SaaS clients make the assumption that vendors are creating backups of your data, and generally, they do. However, this backup is nearly always a complete backup of the entire platform, enabling a full recovering in the case of a significant security breach or in a scenario where all your data is destroyed. What this means is data is protected at a service level but specific granular information cannot be recovered. For example, the system won’t be capable of recovering a particular email or a critical sales file sheet required for a report. Whilst this may be an extreme example, if any situations like this develop, it is prudent that a business has taken precautions and used an external backup system.

Maintaining the security of SaaS data

With large data volumes, it is good to manage and prioritise your information and create a backup plan. This enables a business to classify the most important data sources and ensure you remain compliant with current regulations. If your business intends to apply a SaaS model then it makes sense to deliver a SaaS solution service to protect it. Implementing the SaaS approach doesn’t mean you have to let your data protection focus slide. With the number of options available today, there should be no reason why a business should leave their data open to potential risks. Organisations should acknowledge that SaaS data requires a similar level of protection as applied to other major data sources.