[Mutual Healthcare Society] goes live with IBM Planning Analytics Budgeting & Forecasting solution for Infor SunSystems

LAKE today announced that [company name] has implemented IBM Planning Analytics to deliver Business Intelligence and Budgeting and Forecasting linked with Infor SunSystems.

[Company name] were looking to replace their manual spreadsheet-based budgeting process with a more efficient collaborative solution. Planning Analytics was chosen as it meets all their needs in a single package that is easy to use and quick to deploy. LAKE, an IBM Business Partner and Infor Channel Partner, were selected because of their experience with the Society's SunSystems finance system and their track record of delivering practical business solutions.

With IBM Planning Analytics, organisations leverage existing Excel skills while eliminating the huge risks and limitations of spreadsheets. A Web-based interface allows non-Finance users to review management dashboards and reports and to contribute to the planning process from anywhere.

This was a rapid implementation. [Company name] were soon benefiting from the elimination of spreadsheets and the reduction in manual workload. With IBM Planning Analytics, [company name] now have a single, secure source for all budget and forecast data and a streamlined collaborative process.

[Name], Management Accountant explains:

"We are already seeing the benefits. Our on-site managers have greater visibility of budgets and can be more hands-on than ever before. It has saved a lot of time. Our old system was a painful time-consuming iterative process with the risk of spreadsheets being shuttled back and forth between Finance and budget-holders. And the load of the agreed budget into SunSystems now takes minutes rather than days...

.. IBM Planning Analytics is modular and is capable of so much more than we do currently. It lends itself to a rapid and phased implementation. You can use as much or as little as you want and you can implement it in manageable chunks...

.. I would definitely recommend LAKE. They understand our business and apply that knowledge to help us set up systems to meet our needs, and always within agreed timescales and budgets."