Item: Anaplan
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Anaplan

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We implement Anaplan. The main use case for Anaplan is Sales Performance Management. Anaplan handles workforce planning and the relationship of sales rep to compensation plan. Once data is loaded in through Salesforce via daily integration, Anaplan credits the transactions to the appropriate sales rep. At the end of each month, compensation is calculated and approved then sent to payroll while being presented to the sales team in Anaplan.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Anaplan can scale as your business grows, for example adding new regions into to your geographical hierarchy.
Anaplan is flexible and can do anything you want it to, there are no tables pre-configured that you need to fix your business process into.
Reading formulas in Anaplan is straight forward with a quick learning curve.

Cons

Some end users don't spend the required amount of time to familiar themselves with Anaplan.
Auditability, while good in theory, can be lacking and clunky when needed.
Model building can become convoluted over time, leading to confusion over the specific use of line items.

Return on Investment

You will see greater accuracy within your forecasts by leveraging Anaplan to look at historical values while including projections such as seasonality.
You will save time, resulting in team members spending more time on value-add opportunities.
You will have happy end users that have access to self-service reports, removing any bottlenecks through the workflow.

Usability

Anaplan can be difficult to learn without going through a training course. That steep learning curve can be especially difficult for leadership who only occasionally uses Anaplan. As an end user, Anaplan can also feel a little overwhelming due to all of the different steps required to build a successful model. As a power user, Anaplan is a great tool - but it is not necessarily intuitive.

Alternatives Considered

Varicent, Pigment and Workiva

Anaplan is one of the only tools flexible to handle bespoke commission calculations. In addition to Sales Performance Management, Anaplan can be used to support other business functions, such as workforce planning or financial planning & analysis. Anaplan provides the scalability needed for an enterprise-level solution. While taking longer to implement, it also can provide a greater ROI.

Key Insights

Do you think Anaplan delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Anaplan's feature set?

Yes

Did Anaplan live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Anaplan go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Anaplan again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

Anaplan is great for enterprise clients that want to pursue a path of connected planning. If designed correctly, a data hub can be your central data repository which acts a shared dataset across your organization. From Marketing and Sales, to HR and Finance - Anaplan will be the one source of truth as individuals contribute to the business process.

Anaplan Feature Ratings

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A Powerful Tool with a Learning Curve