Item: IBM Planning Analytics
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IBM Planning Analytics I believe is quite versatile and enables us to build streamlined yet elaborate solutions. It has enabled us to support clients in visualising their dates on a more day-to-day basis certainly. I was impressed by how much data can be digested within the tool without issue.

Pros and Cons

Assists in consolidating data
Able to work faster thanks to its processing power
Quite user friendly for such an app

Modularity for some elements
Ability to respond to needs of small clients
Price point

Return on Investment

Massive increase in productivity for clients (time gain)
Better communication between teams (data vis)
Better financial skills among clients through use of tool

Scenario Planning and What-If Analysis

Very important as it enables us to help clients make more refined projections of current and future business decisions with high accuracy. What if analysis could be improved in IBM Planning Analytics with Watson and as of now we use this capability less in general. We first need to grasp it better in Excel before and then can we only focus on IBM Planning Analytics with Watson.

Alternatives Considered

Oracle Cloud EPM

IBM Planning Analytics with Watson does quite well in comparison to industry giants although it does have room for improvement. Many of our clients are also well accustomed to Oracle for instance. So it's user-friendliness that helps some tools get ahead of others. The more you improve on this, the more the market share in my opinion.

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of IBM Planning Analytics go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy IBM Planning Analytics again?

Yes

Support Rating

It's a solid tool with a lot of potential. The last two grades would be for IBM to listen more to user req. and act in consequence. Learning from how users operate the tool directly could help in enhancing it. Eg. Business case scenario as opposed to just 'test this function' type of learning.

Usability

Again, some room for improvement here. Some competitors are really improving on this front and IBM must not lag behind. This will make a real difference. Overall the tool is quite intuitive and with a bit of practice works well for the mind. A more modern look would not harm.

Other Software Used

Oracle Cloud EPM, Anaplan, Planful (formerly Host Analytics)

Likelihood to Recommend

The tool is well suited when interacting with technically driven clients who appreciate the value of data and its insights. However, for some clients, stakeholders who are more narrative-driven and less number focused it seems there might be a case to enhance visualisation from this perspective (presentation not just reduced to graphs, etc).

Fantastic To Translate Complex Data Sets With Easy To Use Data Vis Tools

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Planning Analytics with Watson