How To Get Started With EPM Software

Finance professionals often struggle between aligning business strategy with execution.

Finance is focused on budgets, forecasts, and internal financial numbers whereas strategy looks outwards toward competitors, market dynamics, and more. Next-generation FP&A teams, in order to help the business achieve its goals, need to focus on where these two functions overlap. 

This is where enterprise performance management software (EPM) comes into the picture. 

EPM software helps inform future decisions, improve efficiencies, and drive the financial and operational performance of the organization. In many ways, it is one of the most powerful platforms for finance teams and FP&A departments.

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What is Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software? 

Enterprise performance management (EPM) software for FP&A teams specializes in budgeting, forecasting, and financial management. 

The data analytics, reporting, and forecasting models allow financial planning and analysis teams to: 

• Anticipate performance gaps and drill down into the root cause, 
• Collaborate strategically with other departments, 
• Respond with greater agility in the face of unexpected changes, and 
• Plan strategically for business growth. 

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Benefits of EPM software 

For smart FP&A organizations, EPM software is the go-to solution for performance management, with the following key benefits:

Connects all your data 

As a financial business partner, FP&A teams need real-time, high-quality, and traceable data to draw insights from.  Manually collecting this data to identify what drives the organization forward is time-consuming and erroneous. 

That’s where EPM software helps by importing data from business tools across all departments. 

Common integrations include: 

• ERP and accounting systems 
• CRM 
• HRIS and ATS 
• Billing and payment systems 
• Data lake and BI solutions 
• Spreadsheets 

Equipped with this real-time data and automated reporting, the finance team can focus on making speedy and accurate business decisions. 

Allows modeling with flexibility 

Highly effective EPM software has a native scenario modeling feature that enables users to create dynamic, multidimensional forecasting. In this fast-changing business world, connecting finance, revenue, and workforce plans becomes critical. 

The scenario planning and forecasting feature within most EPM software lets users anticipate changes and needs that could arise such as growth projections or regulatory restrictions among many others. Predictive analytics gives teams more time to focus on value-added work.

Generates real-time reports 

An EPM platform helps the business optimize and expand its reporting and analytics capabilities. Real-time financial reporting, any other ad hoc reports, and live analysis align your teams, ranging from CFOs to sales reps. 

Interactive reports consolidate data and performance metrics into a central repository for the FP&A organization to comprehensively analyze financial and operational metrics across all levels of the business and measure them against the strategic goals. 

Runs what-if scenarios within minutes 

The very aim of EPM is to plan for contingencies and estimate the impact of changes on the key drivers, to prepare for all eventualities, and make informed decisions. EPM software visualizes the impact of events and decisions within minutes, through what-if scenarios.

Breaks down silos 

An intuitive platform brings together cross-functional teams so that they can get a shared understanding of the numbers needed to meet the company’s goals. Cross-functional collaboration leads to transparency, alignment, productivity, job satisfaction, and improved operational efficiency of your FP&A department. Moving collaboration into the enterprise performance management system allows users to refine their assumptions and act on outcomes quickly. 

Protects your data 

The enterprise-level security gives the peace of mind that critical data is security. Advanced features such as SOC2 compliance, fine-grained access control, data encryption, single sign on, audit trail, and disaster recovery provide a secure experience. 

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Characteristics of good EPM software for FP&A teams 

Robust modeling capabilities 

Powerful EPM software for finance teams uses driver-based modeling and scenario analysis to build highly accurate rolling forecasts. Pigment’s enterprise performance management software runs comprehensive what-if scenarios within minutes, allowing FP&A teams to quickly change assumptions and compare scenarios with tables and charts. 

A cloud-based EPM solution stores your data in one place, making modeling faster and more straightforward. The platform allows you to: 

• Link financial models and operational models to view the impact of decisions on your forecasts and plans 
• Assess key drivers and their impact

Allow integrations with other business applications 

Instead of spending time collecting and validating data from multiple applications, the EPM platform for finance teams lets you clean and enrich data in seconds. The software allows users to integrate with spreadsheets to use existing formulas for ease of transition and adoption. 

What makes EPM software indispensable for the FP&A function is its ability to integrate multiple business systems, giving users access to consolidated data. Seamless integration of vital workflows makes it easier to manage operational processes. 

Scalable 

What are the immediate and future needs of your finance teams? The enterprise performance management system should support the need for future growth of your business requirements. 

Allow comprehensive reporting 

Through an EPM system, non-financial team members such as senior leadership and executives access reports generated by the software. It eliminates the need for multiple-reporting systems. 

Centralized data resources led to self-service reporting in a secure environment. The real-time and stunning reports, plans, and forecasts give a 360-degree view of the business and can be used to identify trends. 

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Investing in EPM software: the path forward for connected FP&A teams

An effective enterprise performance management software like Pigment allows businesses to improve the accuracy of their financial processes. 

To integrate finance with operations and strategy, Pigment connects the business on a greater level, integrates individual teams to link operational data with financial outcomes, and delivers faster and more effective budgeting and forecasting. 

EPM software Pigment for FP&A leads to a more robust financial planning process.

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