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A big fan
Updated February 04, 2015

A big fan

Michael Bright | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adaptive Insights

Adaptive Insights is being used as a planning and reporting tool throughout the company. All budget holders have access to the system and can view and manage their budgets and forecasts. Monthly reporting is available for viewing and can also be pushed out as Excel reports. The software is key in providing a financial model from which we run our organization. Different what-if scenarios can and are created to show the potential impact of prospective decisions and events. We are always looking for additional funding and revenue sources and the data needed to support these tasks would be impossible to rely on without Adaptive.
  • Adaptive Insights provides a level of accuracy and dependability that Excel models cannot approach. The task of budgeting and reporting becomes an exercise in analysis rather then data validation. Models become less uncertain when the potential for simple formula errors is eliminated.
  • Adaptive's use of sheets to drive data allows for greater flexibility than other packages I have used in the past. It allows you the ability to give detail to the numbers if needed or simply budget to a target if needed. The different spread options gives you the ability to quickly enter the data in a meaningful way.
  • I have found that the support I receive from Adaptive is world class. I can access on-line training, best practices and am even able to order short-term consulting to handle custom requests. Having access to helpful, insightful resources is more than a "nice to have".
  • Our custom connectors to Salesforce.com and Intacct make updating actuals and sales plans fast and seamless.
  • Adaptive had the issue of run time for quite a while. Loading pages could take several minutes and Java errors would come up every time there was an update. These have largely been taken care of but system speed will always be an improvement opportunity.
  • Loading data for several departments from one master screen is something I have seen in other packages and can be a powerful way to update data. Even having ways to set ratios for each department so that one number, depreciation for instance, can be entered triggering allocations to several departments. This is more of a product enhancement of course but it would make data input even more efficient.
  • Our use of Adaptive could be expanded to bring greater ROI to Customer Service, Sales (especially with a better integration with Salesforce) and even Engineering but our own resources haven't allowed for this. I think that running your pipeline through Adaptive to model the true financial impact of prospective deals would be a great help in both your cash planning and in mapping your potential incentives to the Sales team.
  • Adaptive has allowed us to produce our Board packages with no additional outside resources. We anticipate this being even more streamlined once we can integrate Adaptive Connect to update our presentation automatically.
  • By providing an accurate and forward looking cash flow report, we can better manage our investments to maximize our return without the risk of short-term cash shortages.
Adaptive Insights is more user friendly, I love the fact that it updates in real time, without having to "roll up" your data to see the results. The reporting is easy to use and understand and the cost is much better when compared with big hitters such as Hyperion and Oracle. I have never had an issue with data loss, system freezes, downtime or delayed support responses. In short, the system has never caused me frustration, something that can't be said for most other software I rely (Excel for instance).
I have been told Adaptive Insights doesn't handle multiple entities well but we only have one company, and that may only have been true on an isolated instance. Extremely large organizations may need a more robust system that integrates with an inventory or ERP system and very small companies, ones still on Quickbooks for instance, may find it too costly. But I think it fits 90% of the mid-market companies out there.

Using Adaptive Insights

9 - Two Finance admins and 7 business users/budget managers.
1 - I am the only one who supports users of Adaptive Planning.
At this point we have set up our reporting to integrate with Adaptive. We have spent some non-recurring money to set up and populate the system. Switching at this point would only be an option if we were unhappy with the decision. This might seem like I am side-stepping the issue but I think an important point is being made. Whatever system you decide to go with, changing later is costly and unproductive. We chose Adaptive and have absolutely no regrets. We are currently at a crossroads here at Teachscape and are looking at several different potential options. If we were still relying on a 20 to 40 sheet Excel workbook with thousands of links and formulas, I don't think I would be able to sleep at night. Adaptive gives me a greater level of comfort.