Where spreadsheets once provided a competitive advantage over manual tables, now companies can drive greater improvements with automated budgeting and planning tools. Currently, 54 percent are using manual processes. Only 26 percent are using traditional analytical applications.
“We are seeing the economy doing better, so real-time budgeting and planning is becoming an imperative. The annual budget process is a reforecasting dinosaur. SMBs now need the same level of solution previously available only to the large enterprise. That said, there's a lot of folks still using spreadsheets,” said John Colbert, BPM Partners.
According to the study, mid-size firms need to follow the lead of the Fortune 500 firms that have discovered the power of dedicated tools for budgeting, forecasting and reporting. The new breed of analytic applications, both lower in cost and easier to use, makes it possible for the mid-market to move beyond spreadsheets.
BPM Partners 2009 Budgeting and Planning Survey for Mid-sized Businesses surveyed more than 220 individual companies.
Valerie Valentine is senior editor for Information Management. You can follow her on Twitter @ValValentineIM.
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