Your financial planning, forecasting, reporting & analysis processes will likely have to be significantly faster and more agile in our post COVID-19 world. To assist, Column5 has assembled the tools on this page to help the greater SAP Analytics community.
What to do next?
- Take advantage of the resources below
- Complete the survey on the right to help us gather more helpful tips to share with the greater community
- Request an Assessment on the right to see where your financial planning, forecasting, reporting & analysis strategy needs to PIVOT and HOW.
Resources
Our perspectives regarding COVID-19
COVID-19: A time for Enterprise Performance Planning LeadershipRead Less
Synopsis:
The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis. ' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity."
John F. Kennedy, US President
It's the sort of blockbuster movie plot you'd expect to see while sitting in the dark confines of a movie theater, booming audio and a gasping crowd. A thrilling plot has your eyes riveted to the screen, where the dramatic tension is only broken when you run out of popcorn or the movie ends. In that scenario, you can return to your "real life" in a little over an hour, with no discernible life altering impact. It is now clear this COVID-19 provocateur is no movie; this virus will not go away so quietly without leaving an indelible impact on the world. It most certainly will impact corporate Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) which we’ll define as Gartner does as “the process of monitoring performance across the enterprise with the goal of improving business performance.” Other activities impacted under the EPM umbrella include financial planning and analysis (FP&A), budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and consolidation. Read the whole blog post here to find out how our plot unfolds.
Customer perspectives during COVID-19
Blog Coming SoonRead Less
Stay Tuned! Blog post coming soon!
Technical readiness, remote connectivity and performance resources
Blog Coming SoonRead Less
Stay Tuned! This blog will be posted soon!
Personnel readiness/training and WFH resources
Blog Coming SoonRead Less
Stay Tuned! Blog post coming soon!
Column5 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Preparedness
Column5 Preparedness StatementRead Less
As a critical partner to your business, we understand the importance of our ability to continue to support our clients amidst this global health event. We also appreciate that our customers’ systems for supporting planning, reporting and analytics processes are viewed as mission critical during this period of uncertainty. Column5 is here to support you.
The health and well-being of our employees, customers, and their employees is of utmost importance to us. We have been monitoring Coronavirus (COVID-19) developments closely through local authorities, and the World Health Organization. As the situation continues to evolve, we are keenly focused on our preparedness efforts to maintain a safe work environment for our employees and to sustain our business operations.
Security, safety and well-being is integral to our services, business processes and infrastructure. Column5 has a Business Continuity Plan in place - our operations are running smoothly so that we can provide you with the best possible service.
Frequently Asked QuestionsRead Less
What is Column5 doing in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)?
Column5 is aware of, and closely monitoring, the evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation through our liaisons to local authorities, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to maintain a safe work environment in our facilities and to sustain our business operations.
- We have activated our Business Continuity Plan, which includes:
- Enabling work from home capabilities within impacted regions. The majority of Column5 employees already work remote from their homes, so this transition has not been disruptive to our standard business operations.
- Providing our associates with information and best practices to prevent the spread of any illness
- Coordinating global and local communications with our employees, clients and partners
- Limiting all non-essential business travel. All active consulting projects have already transitioned to remote work.
How will Column5 support clients during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak?
Column5 has established support systems and employees who are already accustomed to supporting our clients via remote, work at home arrangements. Therefore there has been no disruption to our normal business operations and our ability to support clients.
What is the impact of Covid-19 on your people, access to your facilities, your service delivery platform, local regulations, etc.
The majority of Column5 employees already work remote from their homes, so this transition has not been disruptive to our standard business operations. As of today, none of Column5’s employees have reported symptoms related to COIVD-19.
What are the business continuity risks affecting the provision and the quality of your product/service, and/or its potential deterioration?
At this time, we have not experienced any disruption to our normal business operations. Key risks include employees becoming sick. Column5 is observing all recommended procedures to minimize exposure, including social distancing, and work from home.
If there is a possible material impact on product/service delivery, what plans are you undertaking to mitigate the disruption?
Column5 has a Business Continuity Plan in place to support any potential disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What incremental steps are you taking/what changes are you making to your business continuity plans in light of the evolving events to ensure continuity of service at current levels?
Column5 has activated our Business Continuity Plan, which includes:
- Enabling work from home capabilities within impacted regions. The majority of Column5 employees already work remote from their homes, so this transition has not been disruptive to our standard business operations.
- Providing our associates with information and best practices to prevent the spread of any illness
- Coordinating global and local communications with our employees, clients and partners
- Limiting all non-essential business travel. All active consulting projects have already transitioned to remote work.
What steps are you undertaking or planning to identify and mitigate any business continuity risks resulting from your service providers’ performance delivering products or services that support your product/service delivery to customers?
Column5 has activated our Business Continuity Plan, which includes:
- Enabling work from home capabilities within impacted regions. The majority of Column5 employees already work remote from their homes, so this transition has not been disruptive to our standard business operations.
- Providing our associates with information and best practices to prevent the spread of any illness
- Coordinating global and local communications with our employees, clients and partners
- Limiting all non-essential business travel. All active consulting projects have already transitioned to remote work.
In addition, please detail any risks identified with your suppliers and identify which specific suppliers are contributing to that risk, their location, nature of services affected and mitigation plans.
Column5’s primary partner is SAP. Column5 has been in close contact with SAP to monitor any potential disruptions to Column5’s ability to support our customers. At this point, we have not identified any specific additional risks requiring further mitigation plans. Below are links to COVID-19 statements for Column5’s key partners/suppliers:
- SAP: https://news.sap.com/2020/03/sap-co-ceo-letter-covid-19/
- Amazon Web Services: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/response-to-recent-events
- Microsoft Azure: https://news.microsoft.com/covid-19-response/
- Google Cloud: https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/inside-google-cloud/how-google-cloud-is-helping-during-covid-19
Please contact your Column5 Representative if you have additional questions.