To examine correlations between what the most successful companies do differently in their planning processes, we have introduced the classification of best-in-class companies and laggards into The Planning Survey results analysis.

The survey reveals that best-in-class companies use their planning products in a far more extensive way than laggards.

Usage of budgeting software in best-in-class companies

Do you use or plan to use your product for the following tasks (besides planning)? – by best-in-class (n=132)

Best-in-class companies are well aware of the importance of integrating planning with comprehensive BI functionality, ideally into a single integrated platform.

In contrast, many laggard companies use different software products for planning and BI tasks like reporting or analysis. Therefore, additional and sometimes error-prone data transfer processes are necessary to get plan data from the planning product to actuals in the BI product (e.g. for reporting purposes).

The results also indicate that best-in-class companies are on a higher maturity level than laggards, not only in terms of planning but also BI.

For further insights see The Planning Survey 17.

* Best-in-class companies comprise the top 10 percent of companies (approx.), based on their achievement of business benefits, while laggards are defined as the lowest 10 percent (approx.).