Item: IBM Planning Analytics
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used IBM PAW for the planning and analysis of Sales ROI, Financial Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting. It helped us to make better business decisions regarding our current and future investments. We also used PAW for inventory planning and forecasting, which helped us to reduce a lot of inventory costs and improve our ROI.

Pros and Cons

Natural language processing.
Predictive analytics.
Financial planning.

Documentation and tutorials.
Pricing.
Speed of implementation.

Return on Investment

Better decision making.
Cost saving.
Improved forecast accuracy.

Scenario Planning and What-If Analysis

We extensively used Scenario planning to understand various situations pertaining to our inventory and free cash flows during the pandemic. It provided us with great insights, analytics and visualization based on our existing data. We were able to make a lot of cost-effective decisions based on the predictive analytics provided by IBM PAW.

Alternatives Considered

Anaplan Predictive Insights (mintigo)

We chose IBM PAW over Anaplan as well as SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) because of the technical support that we got from IBM. They were extremely helpful and patient with us and helped us to realize better ROI from their platform. Apart from that, we were aware that IBM's predictive analytics capabilities are unmatched in the market

Key Insights

Do you think IBM Planning Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with IBM Planning Analytics's feature set?

Yes

Did IBM Planning Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of IBM Planning Analytics go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Planning Analytics again?

Yes

Support Rating

We had a great experience with IBM's support as each stage of the implementation. What we liked the most was the consistency of support throughout the process. They maintained high responsiveness during the evaluation phase as well as post-implementation.

Usability

IBM PAW is an extremely useful tool for business planning. The usage might be a little difficult initially because it has a steep learning curve, however, once you get used to it, it can help you make data-driven decisions and save a lot of overhead costs.

Other Software Used

IBM Maximo, SAP HANA, UiPath Enterprise RPA Platform

Likelihood to Recommend

It is best suited for budgeting and forecasting process because of strong predictive and analytical capabilities. It also integrates well with other tools and hence provide great flexibility. You should definitely consider IBM PAW if you want to make data-driven decisions in your organization. It is less suited for SMEs and startups because of higher pricing.

IBM PAW is undoubtedly one of the best planning tools available in the market

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Planning Analytics with Watson