EPM Consulting Trends: What’s New in 2024?
EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) as a business process has been in existence since 1990s. EPM specific software solutions and consulting services came about soon after. It’s also loosely used alongside CPM (Corporate Performance Management).
So what does the present and future of EPM and EPM consulting look like. As we clock the first half of 2024 let’s look at what are some of the emerging EPM consulting trends and capabilities.
- Expectations around GenAI: With Generative AI taking over the world its fair to expect what it can do towards EPM. While most solutions are working on in, one can expect early releases towards the end of the calendar year. That’s because application specific LLMs will need to be custom made. This will be required so that the LLMs understand the meaning, context and reference of EPM.
What can we expect – Ability for users to ask queries in plain English prompts and get instant reports and dashboards e.g. give me the variance summary for Product-1, Product-2 for non-metro territories. And EPM consulting firms can further customize these models to the respective industry or process they are servicing. - Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Metrics: ESG is a big priority for the organizations around the globe. And the responsibility to lead the organization towards its ESG objectives is squarely with the office of the CFO. There is a rising demand for EPM solutions that can effectively track and report ESG metrics, reflecting broader societal and regulatory trends. Organizations want to see how Enterprise Performance Management consulting can guide them to embed their ESG goals, strategies, and objectives into a cohesive, live plan.
- Modelling complex organizational structures: The velocity and dynamism of business is at the fastest it’s ever been. Acquisition, divestments, or mergers are more of a norm than an exception. Meaning the EPM models are getting more complex to design. EPM implementation services companies must figure out a way to get this done while ensuring that the models are future-ready. This will mean more functional and process knowledge to be embraced by EPM consulting firms.
- Organizations taking an integrated approach to EPM: Whether one calls it Integrated business planning or company-wide planning, it’s clear that more and more organizations are realizing the value of inter-connected EPM processes. While the CFO owns the business performance plan it cannot be completed without participation of all their other functional teams viz sales, operations, production, or HR. More importantly the AOP may need to be tweaked mid-way, depending on the alterations experienced by one of the functional units. Thus a distinctive trend of the recent 12 months has been the understanding of the organizations to the inter-dependent nature of EPM.
- Integration of AI and Machine Learning: The fundamental difference between a reporting tool and an EPM tool is the ability of the EPM tool to predict future outcomes. However with AI and ML becoming more mainstream this capability has been further expanded and leveraged more commonly now. EPM consultants are increasingly leveraging AI and machine learning to enhance forecasting accuracy, optimizing plans, overcoming constraints, and developing capacities.
- Process flow definition and tracking: Whether is the monthly close or the QBR, time is of essence in EPM. But at the same time the process completion is dependent on various teams from different departments. Thus leading to occasional delays and finger-pointing. This is leading organizations to embed EPM process flow definition and progress tracking within the EPM system. Thus every participant is able to know the status of their respective tasks and perform as assigned.
Process tracking is getting further extended where organizations are expecting inter-team collaboration capabilities. E.g. can I point the salesperson to the inconsistency in their forecast and ask them to provide a justification. Can I share a calculation sheet or a dashboard with the supply chain team indicating the variability in raw material lead times. And then have the relevant team member respond in near real time. - Advanced Visualization: With the use of EPM getting extended to broader parts of the organization the EPM user base is extending to operational teams. They need simple and easy-to-understand analysis which they can put to use in their respective fields e.g. sales, delivery, service, etc. Thus EPM consultants are utilizing advanced analytics techniques and visualization tools to provide more actionable insights and improve decision-making processes.
Consultants are paying more attention to UX design in EPM solutions to ensure that interfaces are intuitive, user-friendly, and cater to the specific needs of different stakeholders within organizations. - Agile EPM Implementations: While one can say that adoption of Agile approaches is not new, in the context of EPM it’s taken a while to be adopted at large. Today, Agile methodologies are almost a norm and are being adopted in EPM consulting to accelerate project delivery, deliver interim milestones, quickly respond to changing business requirements, and demonstrate faster ROI.
- EPM as a Service (EPMaaS): Unless there is a statutory requirement to have on-premise software, EPM has most definitely moved to a subscription model based on the cloud technologies. This trend involves offering EPM solutions on a subscription basis, allowing organizations to access sophisticated EPM capabilities without significant upfront investments in software and infrastructure. This also means that if organizations do not see ongoing value of their EPM tools they may choose not to renew their subscriptions. Conversely, they can add more users to their EPM systems as and when they want to. Win-Win.
- Remote Work Enablement: The shift towards remote work has prompted EPM consultants to focus on solutions that support virtual collaboration, data accessibility, and secure remote access. Most EPM solutions today offer mobile applications making it easier for users to consume them on the go.
- Focus on Data Governance and Security: While EPM systems rarely hold personally identifiable data, with increasing data regulations, EPM consultants are emphasizing robust data governance frameworks and security measures to protect sensitive information. EPM consultants rightfully advocate solutions which provide industry leading compliance and security certifications.
These trends indicate that the future of EPM consulting is more towards integrated, agile, and data-driven approaches that align with the changing needs of modern enterprises.
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