Participants in The Planning Survey 16 see the integration of strategic and operational plans (42 percent), predictive planning (42 percent), value driver-based planning (33 percent) and mobile BI/planning (32 percent) as the most important trending topics for the future in financial planning.

On the other hand, 58 percent of respondents state that they do not require mobile BI/planning at all, while over one-third say the same of value driver-based planning and predictive planning.


Analysis of the Trends in Financial Planning

Which of the following does your company do/use with your product for financial planning and budgeting? (n=577)


BARC’s customer projects reveal that financial planning approaches within companies, as well as the planning market in general, are constantly maturing and many organizations now possess deep expertise in this area.

So it is no surprise to us that advanced financial planning topics like integrating long-term strategic planning with short-term operational planning, predictive planning and value driver-based planning are gaining in importance as many companies strive to achieve the next level of planning maturity.

Furthermore, software vendors are reacting to trends in the market, providing more and more advanced planning functionality to support customers’ needs. The aforementioned topics can be of particular help to companies seeking to address common issues in planning processes such as:

  • Poor quality of planning results (as measured by effort invested);
  • Planning processes take too long/planning results are outdated when adopted;
  • Planning processes are too detailed and complicated;

Cloud BI is a trend that should not be underestimated and could become the next big wave for financial planning.

However, despite the many advantages the cloud offers (e.g. near-immediate availability of software, no internal hardware, reduced IT resources required, needs and usage-based flexible invoicing), relatively few organizations are currently using their planning product in the cloud. Only 8 percent use a cloud-based planning product right now, while 19 percent are planning to use one.

These figures contrast sharply with the 74 percent of respondents who state they would not use a cloud-based planning product (‘not required’).

Interested in more of these findings or want to to see how different planning and budgeting products compare against each other? Visit The Planning Survey 16 web page.