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SAP Analytics
Thought Leadership

Exploring BPC Alternatives: How Column5 and Darwin Analytics Are Supporting Your Next Move

Posted by Column5 Consulting on Thu, Jul 03, 2025 @ 08:07 AM
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SAP BPC customers face important decisions as the platform nears end of life—especially for those on the Microsoft version, which sunsets in June 2026. Whether you're running BPC NetWeaver or Microsoft, your organization may be considering what's next for your planning, consolidation, and analytics processes. 
At Column5 Consulting, we're working closely with Darwin Analytics and its partner ecosystem through the Darwin Marketplace to help BPC customers navigate the future with confidence. From evaluating SAP-recommended pathways to exploring non-SAP BPC Alternatives, our experts provide the insights and hands-on support needed to make informed decisions. 

SAP-Based Options Under Evaluation 

For organizations committed to staying within the SAP ecosystem, Column5 is helping assess several strategic directions: 

  • SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) for financial and operational planning 
  • SAC Content Partners for consolidation functionality 
  • Group Reporting (via S/4HANA) for enterprise consolidation at scale 
  • BPC 2021 for BW/4HANA – the latest on-prem BPC version for customers not ready for full SAC migration 

These options offer varying levels of familiarity, technical alignment, and readiness for cloud transformation. 

Exploring Non-SAP Alternatives with Darwin Analytics 

For customers—especially those running BPC Microsoft—who aren’t deeply invested in SAP, Darwin Analytics provides a vendor-agnostic orchestration platform that makes it easy to migrate to new planning and analytics tools. Through the Darwin Marketplace, clients gain access to: 

  • Curated technology partners 
  • Prebuilt content accelerators 
  • Expert services for data migration and user enablement 

Why BPC Customers Are Looking at Vena 

Vena offers a Microsoft-centric experience that aligns closely with what BPC Microsoft customers are used to—native Excel interfaces, Power BI integration, and strong compatibility with Azure and Microsoft Fabric. This makes Vena a natural fit for companies who value Excel-based flexibility without giving up enterprise-grade controls and reporting. 

Learn More at Our July 17 Webinar 

Join Column5 and Vena for an exclusive webinar: 
Date: July 17, 2025 
Topic: Replacing BPC Without Replacing Excel 
Register here

The Bottom Line 

Column5 is committed to helping SAP BPC customers define their best path forward—whether that’s within the SAP landscape or through leading alternatives like Vena. With Darwin Analytics and its partner Marketplace, we bring the tools, expertise, and options to modernize your planning and analytics function on your terms. 
 
Ready to explore your future beyond BPC? 
Let Column5 and Darwin Analytics help you take the next step with clarity and confidence. 

Maximizing Long-Term ROI: Beyond Technology 

At Column5, our support extends beyond simply identifying new technologies. We work with our customers to help them achieve long-term ROI by improving not only their systems, but also their financial planning, reporting, and consolidation processes. Technology alone does not deliver value—sustainable process improvement and effective user adoption are critical components of success. 

With the power of Darwin Analytics, customers are now able to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their planning and analytics functions more seamlessly than ever. Darwin’s orchestration platform opens the door to advanced automation, predictive forecasting, anomaly detection, and real-time insights—capabilities that allow finance and operations teams to elevate their decision-making processes. 

Supporting Heterogeneous Landscapes with Agnostic Capabilities 

In today’s enterprise environments, most customers operate within heterogeneous technology landscapes that combine SAP, Microsoft, legacy tools, and best-of-breed cloud applications. Darwin Analytics is purpose-built to support this complexity. Its vendor-agnostic architecture allows organizations to orchestrate workflows, integrate data, and deploy analytics solutions across a wide range of platforms without being locked into a single vendor’s ecosystem. 

Whether you are migrating from BPC to SAC, exploring non-SAP tools like Vena, or seeking to enhance your current systems with AI-powered insights, Darwin enables a flexible, scalable approach that evolves with your business. 

More Webinars and Learning Opportunities Ahead 

Column5 is committed to helping BPC customers make informed decisions by continuously providing education, demonstrations, and expert-led discussions. We will be hosting additional webinars in the coming months to explore various options in greater detail—highlighting the capabilities and business benefits of SAP-based solutions, non-SAP alternatives like Vena, and Darwin Analytics as an orchestration and innovation platform. 

Our goal is to ensure you have the tools, knowledge, and strategic perspective to drive your organization forward with confidence, no matter which path you choose. 

Topics: BPC, EPM, sap bpc, group reporting, BPC Alternatives

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