After the recent Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, the business has progressed with its new Exadata project.

The Exadata project intends to make it considerably simpler for enterprises to handle data without requiring the need to manage dozens of servers, varied networks and a range of storage options.

The ultimate goal of the project is to provide Oracle customers with a singular stack that is capable of delivering the highly effective results. David Sivick, the technology initiatives manager at Wells Fargo and speaker at Oracle OpenWorld explains that the bank is now utilising 70 racks of Oracle’s Exadata. Prior to implementing these systems, Well Fargo required thousands of Dell servers to produce the same results.

Sivick explains that the new system has resulted in savings exceeding millions of dollars every year.

He explains that Wells Fargo has seen significant improvements in overall waiting times, a reduction in space required for compression and a general increase in application speeds. The main objective was to consolidate overall processes, the business was attempting to manage a range of varying systems, with different databases and memory systems.

Whilst Exadata can sometimes take longer to implement and operate, it does enable larger businesses to avoid managing multiple platforms and situations of handling technology upgrades over numerous systems. Wells Fargo now operates over 90% of its databases on Exadata, leaving the remaining systems in their existing form purely for strategic decisions or because they are due to be removed.

At this year’s Oracle OpenWorld, the conference focused a lot on the cloud credentials of the business and their vision of how the cloud would manage existing operational challenges. The cloud based strategy of Oracle is focused mainly on the provision of important business applications. At the conference, Oracle states that larger businesses are now using its Exadata products to improve speed and enhance the use of data services and reduce overall reliance on traditional systems.

Larry Ellison, the chairman of board and chief technology officer at Oracle highlighted the competitive edge of the business against Amazon Web Services, referring to Exadata-based projects and data warehousing.

Oracle intends to place itself as a leader in the transformation of cloud technology, an area that is likely to be vital in future ERP applications. The business is also very aware of the challenge facing larger businesses like Wells Fargo that require a complex migration of multiple systems into a streamlined integrated network.

Insightsoftware is focusing on client relationships and implementing new technology to enhance the reporting demands of finance departments.

Reporting and Enterprise Performance Management platform Insightsoftware is pushing further into the competitive enterprise EPM market after announcing the recent acquisition of CXO Software, a highly regarded web-based reporting platform.

Industry analysts believe it is a clever move by Insightsoftware, enabling the business to streamline both it’s financial and operational reporting services for clients of all sizes.

The acquisition of CXO also means some added valued client partners within the social media, airline, automotive and fast food markets. Big branded client’s include KLM Dutch Airlines, Siemens, Experience and McDonalds.

What is probably the most important factor of the acquisition is that it will allow insightsoftware to manage large customer accounts and support significant EMP products created by SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, Oracle Hyperion, Tagetik and OneStream.

The latest acquisition comes not long after their recent purchase of Excel4apps back in October, which established Insightsoftware as a market leader for Excel-based enterprise reporting solutions for finance teams.

CXO software will also work alongside finance teams, transforming them from report-generating cost departments into insightful and strategic providers. Its most important product is a web-enabled solution that provides automated performance reporting by connecting to an EPM system and financial data hub. The tool provides real-time insights, independent of an IT system.

Mike Lipps, CEO of Insightsoftware explains that having the capability to efficiently transform enterprise data into information on business performance for quicker and more accurate decisions is a frequent requirement from customers in the business market. CXO focuses on the core challenges that exist between finance teams and C-Suite executives. CXO offers an intelligent and flexible way to view finance data and integrate into other daily systems. Lipps highlights that the CXO Software offers tools to support this process within the C-Suite.

Lipps believes the latest acquisition will work well with the reporting solutions of Insightsoftware and provide an extended range of financial tools that can be connected with EPM systems. A large part of the innovative changes relates to how C-Suite interacts with internal finance data through the development of a system that translates performance in a manner that executives can fully understand.

The acquisition will also generate further investment into the current CXO technology and through working with multiple companies, expand its offerings on a global scale. InsightSoftware is quickly establishing itself as a significant global competitor within the EPM and ERP markets, offering a service that can be effectively integrated into major blue chip performance management products.

In the last week, Anaplan released their financial results for its fiscal third quarter ending on the 31st October 2018.

Frank Calderoni, the chief executive officer at Anaplan highlighted that for their first quarter as a public company, they are very happy with the results and that it clearly shows Anaplan is a leader within the Connected Planning market.

Anaplan has proven to be a pioneer in the arena of connected planning. Their platform, powered by Hyberblock technology is a dedicated system for connected planning. It enables intelligent, collaborative and sophisticated planning techniques. Large businesses utilise the Anaplan system to integrate data, people and plans, enabling real-time decision-making process and plans in a continuously evolving business environment. Anaplan is situated in San Francisco, with 20 global offices, 175 partners and over 1,000 worldwide customers.

Calderoni explains that their customers have emphasised how much they value the platform for faster and more efficient decision-making. The CEO also states that their customers continue to support Anaplan’s innovative plans within other businesses.

Financial results for Anaplan: Third Quarter 2019

• Total revenue reached $62.0 million, an overall increase of 40% year-over-year. Revenue from subscriptions exceeded $54 million, marking a 42% increase year-over-year.
• Calculated billings hit $72.0 million, representing a 43% increase year-over-year
• The GAAP operating loss was just over $37 million, equating to 60% of total revenue, compared to $10 million loss in the same period for 2018, the equivalent of 23% total revenue.  Non-GAAP operating loss exceeded $18 million or 29.5% of total revenue, compared to $8 million in the same period for 2018, which matched 18% of total revenue.

The financial outlook for Anaplan

Anaplan has released guidance notes for its final quarter for 2019 and the full fiscal year for 2019. The total revenue for the final quarter of 2019 is expected to exceed $63 million with the non-GAAP operating margin forecast to be negative 33%. The full year fiscal period for 2019 figures show total revenue of $235 million and a non-GAAP operating margin standing at negative 34%.

Recent Developments at Anaplan

• Anaplan has recently announced the release of the IFRS 17 General insurance application created in an exclusive collaboration with Deloitte.
• Anaplan confirmed a new partnership with Wipro to create a one-click on-premise to be implemented to the cloud-based Anaplan system.
• Anaplan made the Forbes 2018 CLoud 100 for the third year running and was also named in the Deloitte’s 2018 Technology Fast 500 TM list of Fastest Growing Companies.

Implementing a new finance system is a common module of the overall process of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

An ERP system connects a business and provides the platform for a management team to understand the processes with customers, suppliers and their employees. Implementing a finance system can support the company by enhancing the management of their resources, reduce costs and manage other competitor businesses. Despite having a critical role in a business implementing financial systems and general ERP upgrades can quite often result in failures and disruption to a business.

According to a recent industry report, nearly 30% of ERP implementations fail to succeed half of the intended benefits to a company. There are several notable cases that have gained significant attention to highlight this figure, including how the US Navy reportedly spent over $1 billion on several varying ERP systems, all of which have failed to work. The string of problems attached to implementing a new finance system is generally driven by the complex nature of the process of implementation and the general natures of the business activities they intend to automate. Codex Recruitment explores the main reasons that a new finance system and ERP implementation can fail and offers advice to overcome these potential pitfalls.

Why is your business implementing a new system?

Quite often the first challenge is determining whether the implementation of a new system is really necessary. Many businesses will decide that their existing systems are below par and that reporting, integration and overall efficiency issues are directly related to the software they are using. With this in mind, businesses will choose to transfer to an alternative system, a costly and potentially risky process which may be avoided by a relatively simple procedure of improving the existing service. The reimplementation of existing software will generally be far more cost effective than a complete switch to another vendor.

Has your business clearly defined its goals?

If your business is determined to implement a new system then a clearly defined goal is critical. Quite often, a combination of unclear classification of the problems, the overall outcome or financial implications of the project can result in issues further down the line. A strong understanding of the goal, the business processes, financial benefits and clear timescales will ensure your business has a defined target.

Has your business created a detailed plan?

A thorough plan is essential to succeed in implement new services. It may be a fairly obvious point, but more often than not, plans can be unrealistic or lack specific details. Businesses may create plans that lack information of all the specific requirements and which people are going to be working in each area. Until a good plan is in place, your business won’t truly understand the project timescale and associated costs. Failing to clarify your business requirements at an early stage can result in confusion further down the line. In order to rectify this potential challenge, your business should collaborate with a specific team to perform a detailed audit of your systems and business activities. This process will enable your business to highlight specific ‘pain-points’ and then determine which solution will meet your needs.

Regular Process Management

It is quite clear that any transformation of finance systems requires a dedicated and experienced manager. Quite often, businesses will implement this management role as an additional sub-task to the existing duties of project managers. In reality, this transformation requires an active leader, focused and continually monitoring the overall process. In order for this to be effective in a business, it is essential that the entire company understand the reasons for this implementation and the strategy behind the project. Implementing a new system will have an impact on most areas of a business so it’s critical to communicate the impacts it will have on the business and how it will benefit from applying the new system. Without developing a clear understanding, there is the potential of resistance to change, or particular departments not applying the required resources of commitment to the project.

Understanding what resources are required

A typical error involved with implementing new systems is not understanding the resources required to effectively complete the project. Having a clear idea of the time commitment required from specific teams in the business is a common oversight. As mentioned before, creating a clear plan of the specific duration, skills and quantity of resources required is vital for successful implementation.

Relying on your business consultant

Most transformation processes will involve utilising the resources of expert consultants. There is a danger that this can result in a business relying on the skills of a consultant. Your business needs to ensure it continues to control the main business decisions and have a clearly structured plan to directly transfer key information from the consultant to your internal team.

Customising your business finance system

Any customisation for a business system will add potential risk, time and costs to a project. Despite the potential risks and incurred costs with customisation, many businesses find it tricky to manage the number of customisations within a particular project. Leading business Gartner, PwC and Deloitte believe that customisation is a key area of technical risk within ERP implementation. A business can avoid added customisation by selecting a system that specifically meets their requirement. Industry specialists suggest seeking a solution that meets at least 80% of your requirements, leaving a solution that can include bespoke customisations to meet your remaining needs. Furthermore, finding a partner that has proven working knowledge using your selected platform is recommended.

Providing on the job training

An average lifespan of an ERP system is approximately 10 years, which mean that most employees within a business would have experienced at least one transformation within their career. Project leaders should ideally have experience of implementing your chosen system. Having an experienced internal member on the team is a significant benefit to working with an outside consultant or directly with your chosen vendor.

Has your business done sufficient testing?

The main purpose of testing an ERP project is to ensure the system meets your requirements and generates the output required. A reduction is testing may result in selecting a system that lacks important functions. It is essential when selecting a potential partner that your implement proper due diligence. Improper selection can lead to a process that can experience difficulties and additional costs. Due diligence will generally involve gaining a clear understanding of how a vendor has managed potential challenges and details on their services, support and training.

Providing sufficient user training

Modern systems are being utilised by more and more members of a business, but management shouldn’t rush to start using new systems without providing sufficient training. Training members of staff to an adequate level for larger companies is not a simple task and leaving training to the end of a project can result in users lacking sufficient information on how to effectively use a new system and understand the benefits. According to industry specialists, a lack of sufficient training is one of the main reason ERP projects fail. Ideally, your business will have a team of internal and external leaders with experience of implementing new systems several times. Your business should implement a detailed training plan that intends to share and distribute the required knowledge from consultants to the internal business team. Training hundreds or thousands of people is not a simple task and a business needs to prepare enough time to get used to a system before activated.

If your business is considering implementing a new finance system and wants to avoid these common challenges then get in touch with the Codex team.

Despite a fairly disruptive week of trading for the technology market, Anaplan saw a significant surge after joining the stock market at the end of last week. Shares for Anaplan increased by over 30% to around $24 by the end of their first day of trading, providing a market value of nearly $3 billion. Anaplan confirmed last week that it had raised just over $263 million in its offering, selling individual shares at a price of $17.

Anaplan launched their $263.5 IPO last week

Frank Calderoni, the CEO of Anaplan explained to media that they had no intention of delaying the IPO despite disruptions to the market which moved Nasdaq to its lowest point since May. Calderoni highlights that business remains positive, with new technology jobs at the business and reaching nearly 1,000 clients, including some significant players within other industries. Calderoni was previously the chief financial officer at Cisco and Redhat and replaced the previous CEO at the start of 2017.

Anaplan now joins a series of other emerging software businesses that have joined the public market this year, These include companies such as Dropbox, DocuSign, Elastic and Smartsheet. Most of these emerging companies have had little regard to recent market volatility, with most tech stocks continuing to climb throughout this year.

What is Anaplan?

Anaplan is a market leading cloud-based platform for integrating planning focused systems to large companies. During its IPO, Anaplan intended to raise $217 million but exceeded $263 million. The financial performance of the business is relatively similar to a typical SaaS company, experiencing rapid revenue growth, combined with a continued decline in operational losses. Nearly a thousand businesses spanning 46 nations are using the platform to support a range of business activities including budget management, sales and operational planning.

The Anaplan platform enables the combination of all employees, data and projects of a business to create a strategic plan and make real-time decisions. Key customers of Anaplan include some leading large corporations such as Coca-Cola, United Airlines and HP.

The Anaplan IPO commenced on the NYSE on October the 12th. Earlier this year, one of Anaplan’s key competitors, Adaptive Insights was acquired for just over $1.5 billion. Despite having a large number of competitors and a lengthy history of losses, the existing price indicates a fairly positive upside potential for Anaplan.

Anaplan was founded in 2008 and focuses on selling cloud-based software that businesses utilise for overall planning strategies. The main competition facing Anaplan comes from IBM, Oracle and SAP. In the last month, Anaplan hired Dave Morton as the Chief Financial Officer after a small placement period at Tesla. Calderoni explained that Morton has been a long-term customer of Anaplan and so fitted naturally into the business and its overall strategy.

OneStream has experienced a 189% growth in software sales, driven by the acquisition of new enterprise customers and enhanced cloud adoption.

Following on from its strong progress in 2017, OneStream Software, a market leader in Corporate Performance Management solutions for medium and large businesses recorded a significant increase in software revenue for the first period of 2018. The surge of revenue was driven particularly by the addition of new enterprise customers, expanding its existing customer platform base and an overall increase in cloud developments.

New customers for this year include UPS, Toyota, Burton Snowboards and Alliance Data Systems. Nearly three-quarters of new customers added OneStream to replace Oracle Hyperion, SAP BPC and other traditional popular technology tools.

Industry recognition for OneStream

Just this year OneStream has received recognition from five independent research companies for its industry leadership and high customer support. Gartner highlighted OneStream as a Visionary in its Cloud Financial Close, Planning and Analysis Solutions. Nucleus Research selected OneStream in its leader Quadrant for the 2018 CPM Value Matrix. Dresner Advisory Services awarded OneStream with a perfect Customer Recommend score and named the company at the leader for customer experience and credibility within their enterprise and planning study.

Tom Shea, the CEO of OneStream Software explains that achieving 100% customer success is not their main goal, but is a key factor that is considered within the company. Shea explains that the recent success is driving continued growth, creating more customers and supporting product development decisions.

OneStream solutions for new lease accounting and tax provision

At a conference earlier this year, OneStream launched a series of new products for its XF MarketPlace, the only app store available for CPM, offering tested and proven solutions for the industry. In May, OneStream launched its lease accounting solution to support businesses to meet the required accounting guidelines. OneStream also confirmed the launch of a Tax Provision product to support businesses with tax reporting and planning. The XF MarketPlace portfolio now offers 40 solutions and continues to expand further.

Craig Colby, the chief revenue officer of OneStream explains that they are experiencing continued growth from new customers and their existing customer base. There is a notable increase in the leverage of their XF MarketPlace solutions which Colby suggests is down to the customer-focused approach. Working with customers to replace traditional applications and at the same time manage new issues with the OneStream XF platform is proving to be a successful approach.

What is the OneStream Software?

OneStream Software offers a new corporate performance management (CPM) system that integrated and simplifies financial consolidation, planning, reporting and analytics for businesses. The platform can be utilised via the cloud or on-site. OneStream XF is the first and only existing solution that provides corporate standards and controls, enabling businesses to report and plan specific details without affecting corporate standards. The OneStream XF MarketPlace system includes a range of downloadable solutions enabling customers to enhance the CPM platform and manage the changing financial and operational needs of their business.

What is the Oracle OpenWorld 2018 Event?

Leading CEOs and industry representatives will be attending the Oracle OpenWorld 2018 in San Francisco next week.

Attendees at the 2017 Oracle OpenWorld event

For years Oracle’s community hub of technology and business professional have collaborated at the Oracle OpenWorld to discuss and solve challenges, learn about innovative products and find inspiration. The event provides a conference pass enabling attendees to gain access to over 2,000 educational sessions, training and tutorials on emerging technologies and networking opportunities.

Oracle OpenWorld 2018 will include case studies from over 300 Oracle customers, including FedEx, Gap and American Red Cross and how these businesses use the latest cloud products and technology. The conference will focus on how companies like these have transformed their products, integrated their business processes and successfully implemented their own strategies.

As in previous years, registrants can utilise an online tool to schedule all their sessions via the Oracle OpenWorld site. Some of the key themes at the conference include Your Autonomous Future (autonomous database, AI and machine learning), Tomorrow’s ERP, Evolving Customer Experience and Actionable Business Insights (data analytics, business intelligence and forecasting). High profile speakers at the event include former US Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson, Glitch CEO Anil Dash and Snips CEO Rand Hindi. Oracle will also be hosting three additional events in San Francisco to complement Oracle OpenWorld.

Oracle Code One event will expand on previous JavaOne developer events with more languages, technology and developer communities. Oracle Leaders Circle event will include presentations from leading industry members, such Amity Millhiser, the Chief Client Officer at PwC.

Oracle Product Focus: Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Services

For many businesses, managing financial consolidation is a challenge that involves time and multiple resources that could be used more effectively for analysis and decision making. Oracle Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service provides an end to end solution for effectively managing the consolidation and closed process.

Whatever size the company is, businesses can have complete confidence in their financial consolidation and overall reporting processes. The system enables the process is correct, timely. completely transparent, compliant and auditable.

Oracle’s Financial Consolidation and Close Cloud Service is a cloud solution that can be implemented to meet the requirements of each individual business. Applying best practices enables companies to develop an application that meets their business needs, without the addition of other functions that are not required. Oracle explains that the service enables companies to combine a leading consolidation solution with the capability to customise the solution for all the features they require.

Oracle highlight that it is essential that businesses implement a consolidation and close solution to make their activities more effective, efficient and easier to manage. The Oracle Financial Consolidation and Cloud Service provide a range of useful reasonings for businesses to choose this solution for their close and consolidation strategies.

View the agenda of the upcoming Oracle OpenWorld 2018 event.