Anaplan is a cloud-based robust organization planning platform designed for finance, sales, marketing and other operations divisions of a large and fast-growing company. The platform handles both single usage and enterprise-wide key processes.
The system is based on the hyperblock technology, the same technology that allows for a single modeling environment with the capability to facilitate larger models at high speeds.
The software platform enables large organizations and businesses to connect various aspects of their day-to-day operations for a more streamlined and connected planning process. Anaplan boasts a comprehensive built-in application platform that enables businesses to efficiently build and/or reconfigure their planning applications.
Anaplan serves as a hub for pre-built apps that are specifically designed for various operations units, including finance, sales, workforce, marketing, supply chain and IT.
The platform also offers a custom application module designed to help users modify the same apps to fit their specific organizational needs. The platform is capable of reducing end-to-end supply chain costs by aligning the latter to various marketing opportunities.
By utilizing the Anaplan platform, fast-growing companies and large organizations can rely on useful information that allows them to make intelligent and reasonable data-driven decisions. This is mainly because the system is capable of conducting analyses on valuable performance data that managers can then employ.
Anaplan’s feature-rich comprehensive platform provides users with a robust cross-functional planning hub that effectively promotes seamless collaboration. It allows for distributed, on-the-ground expertise for organizational/corporate planning, serving bottom-up as well as top-down alignments.
Some of its features include application cataloging, centralized data repository and multi-dimensional planning based on various factors such as relationship, time, hierarchies, calculation and real-time modeling.
Furthermore, as a collaborative decision-making and business-planning platform, Anaplan allows users to collaborate in a safe and secure environment with ease. This makes both processes become more efficient and significantly less time-consuming. It also ensures the involvement of everyone in the team, making certain all individuals involved are on the same page with every decision and resolution to key issues.
Anaplan Features
Anaplan’s robust platform offers cloud-native solutions that bring together plans, data and workforce across the entire organization. Recognizing the ever-changing needs and demands of a growing business, the system provides automated data analysis, complex scenario modeling and advanced machine learning capabilities to provide users with a competitive edge and to drive sustainable growth.
Anaplan’s platform is capable of transforming a conventional business into a modern enterprise by providing decision-makers with immediate and unrestricted access to the most relevant data.
The core features of Anaplan include:
Enterprise scaling
Planning at scale is one of the main functions offered by the Anaplan platform. The solution connects your entire business and all of its divisions, scaling as you grow and become a larger enterprise. It takes care of your needs and real-time changes at every stage.
Calculations and analyses remain consistent and efficient across all datasets as well as for any number of users. This is crucial for decision-makers looking forward and planning for the future of their company.
The platform’s control center and admin console keep everything streamlined and organized. It serves as a central location for admins to keep track of and manage models, tenants and workspaces. This is also where administrators will be able to manage, control and audit individual users, register CA certificates and manage encryption settings.
Data sharing and integrations
Extensibility is a critical component of the Anaplan platform. The solution gathers all the data from across the entire organization and analyses them in one centralized location. This allows for both granular and high-level analyses.
It also facilitates data sharing among stakeholders and decision-makers. The system’s ETL connectors, application program interface (API) and built-in integrations make communication between software solutions possible and seamless.
One of the features included in the data sharing and integrations module is the manual import and export of data through a tool known as Anaplan Connect. This is an integration utility that manages integration scripts for the import and export process.
The system also comes with connectors for ETL and ESB tools to integrate seamlessly with SnapLogic, MuleSoft, Informatica and Dell Boomi. It supports purpose-built integrations for engagement systems like DocuSign, Workiva and Tableau.
Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)
The Anaplan platform’s intelligence capabilities empower users to handle and adapt to the complexity and constant change often associated with a fast-growing business.
Through a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, proper optimization and over 30 predictive algorithms, the platform ensures that even the most sophisticated and advanced scenarios can yield actionable data-driven recommendations.
Anaplan’s advanced intelligence and machine learning capabilities can provide optimal solutions to complex scenarios by accessing multiple variables and constraints. It is fully capable of producing recommendations for a variety of complicated use cases, including inventory management, territory planning, sales, optimization, project portfolio and so much more.
Collaborative connected planning
Connected Planning is a feature that encourages collaboration among team members, departments and decision-makers, transforming the planning process into a simple conversation exercise across the enterprise. With this module, you can essentially connect your people in the right places at the right moment across solutions and devices.
The system provides you with personalized vital information when you need it. It enables you to update plans swiftly, view its potential effects instantly and make the appropriate decisions based on intelligent recommendations.
To ensure accessibility and efficiency, the platform can be deployed on various devices, including desktop computers, tablets and native mobile applications for both Android and iOS.
Anaplan Benefits
The following are some of the benefits you can expect from choosing Anaplan as your primary cloud-based business planning solution:
Powerful hyperblock technology
Hyperblock refers to Anaplan’s proprietary calculation and modeling engine. It is the main technology that drives the cloud-based connected planning platform. This robust tool provides users with the ability to develop and design complex models that utilizes information from across the enterprise in order to produce valuable insights and analyses that may impact or influence key decisions.
Centralized resources for collaborative planning
Seamless collaboration between employees and team members is crucial to the success of any organization. This also applies to organizational planning and decision making.
The platform is designed to consolidate all pertinent data so decision makers, stakeholders and collaborators can access the same information, modify data and sync them enterprise-wide.
Staff members can safely perform their responsibilities, tasks and processes in the cloud and their teammates can clearly see their progress so errors, misunderstandings and redundancies can be avoided.
Easy to use and requires minimal IT support
Anaplan is designed with ease-of-use in mind. It is both user-friendly and intuitive. This enables users with little to no technical experience with this or any similar solution to successfully operate it with relative ease, especially when it comes to the day-to-day task performance and modeling. The intuitiveness and user-friendly design of the platform also allows for a smoother workflow and minimizes the need for IT support.
Informed data-driven decisions
Having the ability to collect and analyze performance data is only the first half of the business planning process. The second half is coming up with the best and most realistic scenarios/models that will help you identify the best action to take to bring you closer to your goals and objectives. The Anaplan platform is designed to provide you with actionable insights and data-driven recommendations you can use to evaluate possible actions before you make a move/decision.
Anaplan Pricing
Anaplan follows a subscription-based model with customized pricing. This means you will have to contact the vendor directly to get your custom quote.
There are three main subscription plans available; Basic, Professional and Enterprise.
The Basic plan comes with essential capabilities that support basic planning and modeling.
Professional has enhanced capabilities designed to handle the equally advanced planning needs of any organization.
The Enterprise plan features advanced optimization capabilities, priority support and data connector bundles.
For a more in-depth look into all the features and tools that come with these subscription plans, we would recommend you visit the Anaplan official website for a custom quote.
Conclusion
Anaplan is a comprehensive business planning solution that utilizes proprietary Hyperblock technology to deliver purpose-build Connected Planning for large fast-growing enterprises. The platform allows for a more collaborative, intelligent and dynamic planning.
The customized pricing ensures you will only pay for the features and capabilities that your organization actually needs and should use. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in the market for a robust business planning solution.
