Business value thanks to agile, integrated business planning with APOLLO

Many companies face similar challenges in business planning: Operational, strategic, and financial planning are often conducted in isolated systems, and there are no clearly defined and coordinated planning processes. But how can companies reduce planning effort and integrate modern planning approaches such as predictive planning and forecasting? How can data silos be eliminated?

The number of solutions for integrated planning, corporate performance management, and connected planning is skyrocketing, and this topic is high on the list of short-term investments for most companies. There are two clear reasons for this:

1. Recent developments require highly dynamic companies to be more resilient economically.
2. The range of solutions for integrated planning has become much more professional in recent years. These include well-known and entirely new products from strong and market-leading suppliers.

To remain competitive, all companies, regardless of their size, industry, or orientation, must plan ahead.

Here are the questions people ask:

• With which products and services are we successful, and what does the future development of this success look like? Can we predict anything?
• How can we efficiently procure given scarce resources while ensuring stable cash flow, serving investors, and still achieving the growth path we have chosen?
• What personnel decisions must be made, and how do they affect production?
• How do we plan the coming years across all divisions, and what interactions are there in the planning process between individual departments?
• What marketing measures do we need to take to remain successful in sales?
• And: Do we have a planning process at all?

However, the capabilities of most planning solutions end with the ability to provide a compelling user experience and simple planning structures, while ensuring meaningful reporting and integrating forecasting functionality. This is exactly what the integrated planning solution APOLLO can do.

With APOLLO, all ACTUAL and PLANNED data, top-down targets and bottom-up plans, and other parameters can be combined in one place. This enables companies to change their operational or strategic planning with the push of a button and compare different scenarios and their impact on business success. As a result, all planning stakeholders can use APOLLO to select the optimal planning scenario, expedite controlling processes, and collaborate more effectively within the company. Reporting (optionally IBCS-compliant reporting) is already available with the basic license.

APOLLO is an integrated planning solution that enhances IBM Planning Analytics with Watson (TM1): It’s a powerful, multidimensional database system for complex OLAP applications. For years, IBM Planning Analytics with Watson has provided ultimate performance and reliability, so the solution is based on the best that the market has to offer.

APOLLO includes all standard functions that CFOs require: Planning, reporting, analysis, and consolidation. It offers special functions for control and optimization, such as workflows, cockpits, prediction, and optimization. It can be implemented cheaply, quickly, and yet tailored to your company.

APOLLO can fully leverage its advantages: IBM Planning Analytics provides a robust technological foundation, and the ready-made, modular planning areas are networked and integrated through a common interface and database.

All planning areas are modular and can therefore be extended to meet any requirement at any time. The pre-built business content in each module significantly reduces project risk and project turnaround times. Of course, individual planning modules can also be integrated.

With its web front end, APOLLO makes it possible to combine different technologies into a single application.
Each page is divided into nine areas that can be controlled via the sidebar and menus. Part of a web application can be displayed in each of these nine areas: E.g., a table view of Planning Analytics Web, a report, a structure maintenance page, or any other web page.

The APOLLO ReportMailer adds the ability to send report folders to recipients in a time-controlled manner.

APOLLO provides the technology and pre-built business content for integrated planning. The solution can be operated either in the cloud or on premises. Integration into existing upstream systems such as SAP ERP or Microsoft Navision is easy and can be implemented using on-board equipment or through existing interfaces such as the APOLLO SAP Connector.

valantic offers three different ways interested companies can get to know APOLLO

More than 25 years’ experience combined with enthusiastic, well-known customers in wholesale, retail, pharma, production, and banking and financial services, are the best reference. They rely on the products, solutions, and services of valantic and IBM.

Here is a selection of customer projects with APOLLO solutions in the form of anonymized success stories.

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