When it comes to choosing planning software for your business your final decision will often be picking Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan. Each system has its own advantages, and often one or the other will better suit your specific business strategy. So what should you be basing your decision on?
Your existing capabilities
If you are looking to make the jump from using Excel to a dedicated business intelligence program then you need to work out how much you want the new software to do. Both platforms are designed to resemble Excel, so that they are familiar, but they are also more intuitive to use and have increased functionality.
The main difference between the two is in how much data they require. When discussing Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan the former will still work well and give reasonably accurate projections without perfect past records. The latter needs more data, but in turn your projections and forward planning will be more detailed and spot on.
Bigger businesses are likely to have more data and better records, as well as the resources to devote some team members to forward and contingency planning. This in turn means that having accurate data and projections will allow you to prepare your plans for the future.
If your main requirement for your business intelligence software is to make broad plans and you can use rough figures, then in considering Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan you should go for the former. If you need detailed forecasts and have the data to make them, then pick the latter.
What you want to get out of it
This has already been touched on, but a key factor in your decision will be what you want to use the software for. There are two main functions for both options; recording and analyzing long term performance and making future projections.
When considering Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan it is important to note that both can perform both functions, however they have different strengths and weaknesses. They also both help you to make detailed budgeting decisions, which will improve your efficiency.
The former allows you to make assumptions about where money has come from or gone without detailed records, allowing you to approximate your spending in different areas. For example if you have one department that covers multiple spending requirements (for example if you count work supplies and products in the same column) then you can estimate your spending breakdown to still get a rough projection and results.
On the other hand, if you already have those details then Anaplan will get better results vs Adaptive Insights. It will allow you to make accurate forward projections, as well as give exact breakdowns of how much you have spent and brought in in the past.
This gives you the ability to analyse trends, such as seasonal changes in your expenditure and revenue, as well as spot areas where you can make savings or possibly increase revenue. This kind of detailed breakdown of what has happened in the past enables you to accurately predict the future as well. It is worth pointing out that in considering Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan both can do this; the latter is simply more designed for it.
Company size
Bigger companies will often have more departments, and in considering Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan it is necessary to work out which is better for your business size. The former offers detailed analysis for your finance, sales and workforce departments, budgets and planning, while the latter also includes supply chain, marketing and IT to break down costs and benefits in more detail.
In this regard it is clear that Anaplan offers more detail vs Adaptive Insights, but the flip side of that is that there is more work involved in the record keeping and modelling. If you have the time to do all of this then more detail is of course good, but there are times when you just need to make quick decisions or you may not have the budget to devote staff to complex analysis.
In favour of Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan is that it can give you a number of “rough and ready” models quickly, which can sometimes be all you need to make a quick decision. This is also more useful for smaller businesses where man-hours are more of a factor, as you don’t need to devote the resources to budgeting and modelling that you would with the latter.
In the end there are a number of different factors to consider when picking looking at Adaptive Insights vs Anaplan. You will have to look at what you actually need it for, your business size and the capabilities you already have. Both fulfill the same functions, but in considering Anaplan vs Adaptive Insights you just need to remember that each does some things better, and work out where your priorities are.
