The Easy Way to Increase EPM ROI - Part 1

Like it or not, we are a business society of metrics and when it comes to enterprise performance management (EPM), few are more important than return on investment (ROI). You have two ways to increase your EPM ROI: increase the gain from investment or reduce the cost of investment. We are steadfast believers that partnering with Column5 is the best way to optimize your gains, but today I want to discuss how you can control your costs, no matter the size of your company. The easiest way to reduce costs is to focus on reducing your cost per model (application BPC 7.5 and earlier).

For smaller companies, where your solution will be used enterprise wide, use an accelerator. "Accelerator" is not just a fancy name. Column5 provides both industry-specific and global business practice accelerators or starter kits that have proven results. Leveraging starter kits allows your company to benefit from the lessons learned throughout the course of EPM history, guarantee peak performance, and lower future support costs by having a structured solution that any Column5 consultant can support. Starting from scratch generally increases the hours required to develop the solution as well as the risk that your project will not achieve the benefits outlined above.

Larger companies can take reductions in cost per model to a whole new level. Start with an accelerator and modify it to meet your enterprise-wide model requirements. Doing this within a single division helps keep your project focused and limits the number users exposed to first-round testing, while allowing your internal support team to gain expertise on the EPM platform. Once you are live, copy your proven model across your enterprise. After a successful HR, OPEX, and CAPEX custom implementation, take three easy steps to inexpensively move that solution enterprise wide:

(1) update your data feeds to be pointed at the correct division,

(2) modify any division-specific dimensionality, and

(3) train your new set of users.

Finally, to increase your EPM ROI, it's important to think big picture early! While each division may be unique, look for and push enterprise-wide standardization. The more division-specific customization you do, the less your investment is portable across your enterprise. Try a simple implementation first. Gain user acceptance and confidence. Then modify each model to meet the unique challenges encountered by each division.