Likelihood to Recommend I would say for larger companies that don't have any sort of automation of their reporting today, so it's all done in Excel or it's all done in Power BI reports that are fed off of Excel documents, especially technology expense, it can be really helpful. I would also say companies that are early in their cloud journey, it can be helpful to start early. So that's a few that would be helpful. Not helpful, I would say companies that already have a really good handle of their technology spend via any tools they might have. So it can get to a point where they have multiple different tools. Apptio is one and multiple different sources of truth, and if you bring in Apptio later, people won't trust Apptio. So really if you already have a bunch of tools stood up, it's harder to bring in another.
Read full review I would be likely to recommend IBM Planning Analytics, particularly in scenarios where comprehensive financial and operational planning is essential. For instance, in our construction company, it is awesome for optimizing resource allocation across multiple projects, creating detailed project budgets, and conducting risk analysis to mitigate project uncertainties.
Read full review Pros The ATUM model and its configuration provide a trusted taxonomy for costs The participative planning and budgeting process enabled by the product increases transparency into forecasted cost and allows for understanding service options prior to costs being incurred. The loading of data through APIs eases data refresh processes Read full review Forecasting after taking into account seasonal trends and exceptional transactions Unlike spreadsheets, there is no fear of an user making changes to the mastercopy accidentally. Each user gets his or her own workspace to analyze. For entities operating in multiple countries, connects seamlessly with IBM Cognos Controller for taking into account variation in currencies Read full review Cons The CCM module does not always calculate cloud RI usage correctly. Would like better functionality to switch between cloud usage metrics and cost data. Discount rate on cloud recently increased, resulting in lower cost, but with higher utilization. Continue investing in the CCM product, we like it, feels like we are being pushed to cloudability. Read full review IBM Planning Analytics was an upgrade from an older version of TM1 that is experiencing some growing pains, some functionality is harder to reach than it has been in the past It is easy to learn as a surface user with created reports, but it does require some technical skills to make advanced calculations and reports if there is no reliable consultant available, much like Excel Read full review Likelihood to Renew It is hands down the most innovative SaaS on the market today. In my humble opinion it will be just as big or bigger than Salesforce, Workday and all of the greats. I would advise any big company to take advantage of Apptio and renew on an annual basis with their support team!
Read full review Since IBM Cognos Express is suitable only for medium data warehouse environment, we are not sure if this tool solves the long term need as the business keeps growing rapidly. So its a 50/50 ratio to renew Express license. But having said that, the components of IBM Cognos Express are also available in other Cognos BI suites like Cognos 10.x version. So we will probably upgrade our environment to IBM Cognos 10.x which comes with more new features.
Read full review Usability During the budget/forecast period this year I was very hands on in Apptio. This was really my first time. I did run into some hiccups of which have been reported to Support.
Read full review For developers, admins and end users looking for flexibility, IBM Planning Analytics would rate very highly on usability. For example, a developer has access to a highly performant built-in ETL (Extract Translate Load) tool and scripting language called Turbo Integrator that can (among other things) bring in data via flat file or direct connection from many data sources, move data around Planning Analytics, perform batch calculations, export to files or other data stores. In the rare situation where limitations are encountered there is a well documented REST API. Admins and end users benefit from the intuitive PAW (Workspace) interface as well as the rich Excel integration through Planning Analytics for Excel (PAfE). Since flexibility inherently comes with a little more complexity, so an organization with simple and "cookie-cutter" requirements may rate Planning Analytics a little lower.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Excellent, so far. SaaS-based...assuming effective data links and connectivity
Read full review Performance Excellent, so far.
Read full review Support Rating Both the support and the customer success teams have been very supportive and more than likely, if you call in for a support request, they do a really good job with calling you back and making sure that everything's taken care of.
Read full review Although I find the IBM Planning analytics documentation quite time consuming, their support with email and call is something i can term as very considerate and patient, I have had few calls about the features and how i would want to implement them within my projects, and the teams have been super helpful to resolve my issues
Read full review In-Person Training Was awesome to have been taught by legendary Debbie Hagan for Cost Transparency in person. Her knowledge is extensive and she is an excellent trainer. Her years of experience really shined.
Read full review Online Training The all talented training organization crosses all the T's and dots all the I's. I am constantly learning and often refer to training documentation for post training real life issues.
Read full review Implementation Rating Well, so far. Apptio Consulting covered specific model architecting areas particularly. Most of the heavy lifting is being done in-house with support from Apptio as it relates to tool impacts and needs. Some administrative tasks were redundant
Read full review Alternatives Considered ApptioOne has far exceeded our expectations when compared to the research we did into other products and tools. The offerings were different in many ways, but Apptio was the only one who successfully put together a suite of tools that satisfied all of our particular needs. We found the other products to be strong in particular areas, versus Apptio satisfying numerous areas of strength.
Read full review Anaplan does not handle sparsity; this is very problematic for large volume data sets (many 0's). There also are limitations to the number of dimensions that can be used in a module. If more dimensions are required, then separate modules need to be built and intertwined. IBM PA does not have these limitations.
Read full review Return on Investment It's delivered on a lot of those, especially the relationship between IT and financing that relationship's been a bit of a rollercoaster on that journey. We've come out the other end of it, and we're all friends now, which is a good thing. So they've accepted the Apptio output and are much more involved in providing the data and helping to use the tool, which is excellent. I think one of the downsides that are probably not talked about enough is the fact that, um, once you have trained and delivered a TMB skillset within your organization, they become very good at that. So if you've got any high-performing members in that team, they become extremely valuable elsewhere. And we've unfortunately suffered the case whereby one of our highest performers was immediately then poached and went off elsewhere for a much better opportunity. So we applaud that for them, but it's really hard to train other people. It's really hard to take them up to speed, and you have to sort of go through those picks and troughs every time. So that's just life, you know. Read full review One of the advantage is on its ability to ease budget and planning Secondly,the fact that it allows for forecasting means based on such insights means that organisations are able to prepare for future eventualities Thirdly, since it can accommodate data from multiple sources means that one is able to carry out best business practices like planning. Read full review ScreenShots IBM Planning Analytics Screenshots