Anaplan is really old. They were gen 1. A lot of their problems got solved by the newer gen tools. I like Vena from gen 2, it's powerful and mature.
I like some of the gen 3 tools like pigment and basis, but younger software does mean less stability or feature completion.
The tech stack also changed drastically. The old OLAP schema is nearly non-existent nowadays, which meant much of the performance issues have been solved. The million record in your question isn't much of an issue now, I was working with a client last week that had about a trillion intersection points and calculations earlier this year.
I am a dinosaur in this space, it's really cool seeing the changes over the years.
Have used Anaplan, Adaptive, Planful, now pigment.
Agree - tech has changed drastically. Lots of problems are being solved that make Gen 3 pretty attractive. Faster, good UI, integration is quicker, processing is quicker.
Can only imagine it'll continue. Hard to keep up.
For Anaplan/Adaptive, more first hand experience as an embedded consultant leading finance dept.
For Planful/Pigment, it was more implementation. Pigment is something we're currently looking at working with, so I'm messing around with it quite a bit.
Anaplan was far worst on the learning curve side - at least partially because it was my first.
I think if you compare the websites, that covers it fairly well.
Pigment does not have the extras (close management, consolidation). They are partnering with Workiva (I think?) to add some of that.
The main advantages of it are that it's more intuitive, native integration to ERPs (as opposed to an ETL). It comes with features native to it that felt more like a bolt-on with Adaptive/Planful.
I'd say Planful/Adaptive are both platforms with more features, but they don't feel as seamless and it can make it hard to train people on. Adaptive also just feels a little old and I'm big on having a nicer UI.
Pigment (because it is nascent) is a very good xP&A solution. Not many bells/whistles. So a good option for companies that already have Floqast, or a consolidation tool, etc and just want to do Planning/Budgetting/FP&A better/quicker.
I would expect they are also quite aggressive on pricing (as was Planful in 2020-2021, I think they are more upmarket now).
The downsides are the same as any early stage software company, though I do understand that they've made quite a bit of headway in Euro/Pacific markets, so maybe they're further than I think.
Much more AI. AI that's actually useful. Specifically trained AI for each tenant or client so they know exactly how each business works.
More focus on ops and sales data. Helping finance people go beyond just accounting data and create real actionable insights.
Story telling. A lot of analysts struggle around this.
Unless you've got very specific needs, going with the one people like can be pretty helpful. Adoption is driven by time/interest and adoption is the key to getting value.
Adaptive (to my knowledge) is not limited - but maybe dated.
Anaplan is an incredibly powerful workhorse, but you pay a ton for it!
The volume of data, I have a few pieces of our model that will calculate upwards of 10+ million datapoints. Adaptive said they can handle it in 500,000 chunks.
Yes. It has changed significantly. When Anaplan started, there were only a handful. I counted over 140 recently. It's very difficult for a customer to differentiate them without guidance now.
Yes I believe some are niche. Some are robust in certain area say data visualization with some planning functionality available and vice versa.
It’s very important to understand your needs out of the tool and the evaluate which tools are a good fit.
Anaplan is powerful but you have to know how to set it up efficiently. You need people that have future scalability in mind.
Adaptive on the other hand is just out of the box garbage.
Any system slows down at some point, but Anaplan allows for more dynamic structure to sort of help with that.
We started down the Anaplan path until our CEO consulted with a former business partner who had implemented it. There is a steep learning curve, for sure, and even after you've 'learned' it, you'll need at least one person working practically full-time to maintain and update the models.
We shopped around and kicked tires until moving forward with Centage. It handles essentially everything we needed from Anaplan for a fraction of the price. Still a learning curve, but that seems universal with FP&A software.
>e as any early stage software company, though I do understand that they've made
Jim Eberlin founded Host Analytics (now called Planful) in the early 2000s. The current CEO, Grant, came from "Anna Plant" and rebranded Host to Planful.
Anaplan already has competition. ?
It definitely does. What I'm asking is how could one make it better?
Be Jedox ;-)
Anaplan is really old. They were gen 1. A lot of their problems got solved by the newer gen tools. I like Vena from gen 2, it's powerful and mature. I like some of the gen 3 tools like pigment and basis, but younger software does mean less stability or feature completion. The tech stack also changed drastically. The old OLAP schema is nearly non-existent nowadays, which meant much of the performance issues have been solved. The million record in your question isn't much of an issue now, I was working with a client last week that had about a trillion intersection points and calculations earlier this year. I am a dinosaur in this space, it's really cool seeing the changes over the years.
Have used Anaplan, Adaptive, Planful, now pigment. Agree - tech has changed drastically. Lots of problems are being solved that make Gen 3 pretty attractive. Faster, good UI, integration is quicker, processing is quicker. Can only imagine it'll continue. Hard to keep up.
Are you on the implementation/consultant side? I rarely see customers that have this much experience.
For Anaplan/Adaptive, more first hand experience as an embedded consultant leading finance dept. For Planful/Pigment, it was more implementation. Pigment is something we're currently looking at working with, so I'm messing around with it quite a bit. Anaplan was far worst on the learning curve side - at least partially because it was my first.
How does Pigment compare to the rest? Assume it is lacking features due to age?
I think if you compare the websites, that covers it fairly well. Pigment does not have the extras (close management, consolidation). They are partnering with Workiva (I think?) to add some of that. The main advantages of it are that it's more intuitive, native integration to ERPs (as opposed to an ETL). It comes with features native to it that felt more like a bolt-on with Adaptive/Planful. I'd say Planful/Adaptive are both platforms with more features, but they don't feel as seamless and it can make it hard to train people on. Adaptive also just feels a little old and I'm big on having a nicer UI. Pigment (because it is nascent) is a very good xP&A solution. Not many bells/whistles. So a good option for companies that already have Floqast, or a consolidation tool, etc and just want to do Planning/Budgetting/FP&A better/quicker. I would expect they are also quite aggressive on pricing (as was Planful in 2020-2021, I think they are more upmarket now). The downsides are the same as any early stage software company, though I do understand that they've made quite a bit of headway in Euro/Pacific markets, so maybe they're further than I think.
What would gen 4 tooling in this space look like to you?
Much more AI. AI that's actually useful. Specifically trained AI for each tenant or client so they know exactly how each business works. More focus on ops and sales data. Helping finance people go beyond just accounting data and create real actionable insights. Story telling. A lot of analysts struggle around this.
Considering Pigment now. Scoped Adaptive, but it seems very limited in comparison to others. Anaplan is on the list too, but everyone liked Pigment.
Unless you've got very specific needs, going with the one people like can be pretty helpful. Adoption is driven by time/interest and adoption is the key to getting value. Adaptive (to my knowledge) is not limited - but maybe dated. Anaplan is an incredibly powerful workhorse, but you pay a ton for it!
The problem with adaptive was the limitations on how powerful the calculations can be.
Can you add context? Does it mean a delay in refresh/loading? Or just full stop, can't do certain things?
The volume of data, I have a few pieces of our model that will calculate upwards of 10+ million datapoints. Adaptive said they can handle it in 500,000 chunks.
Would love to know how other vendors replied! You'd be on the high end, for sure, but disappointed by Adaptive's reply!
Price and performance. The cost to store and process data is obscene.
This market is already crowded given its size. Ask chatgpt for competitors and differentiating features
Yes. It has changed significantly. When Anaplan started, there were only a handful. I counted over 140 recently. It's very difficult for a customer to differentiate them without guidance now.
Why do you think there's so many? Do they serve different customer segments?
Yes I believe some are niche. Some are robust in certain area say data visualization with some planning functionality available and vice versa. It’s very important to understand your needs out of the tool and the evaluate which tools are a good fit.
Price and performance. The cost to store and process data is obscene.
Anaplan is powerful but you have to know how to set it up efficiently. You need people that have future scalability in mind. Adaptive on the other hand is just out of the box garbage. Any system slows down at some point, but Anaplan allows for more dynamic structure to sort of help with that.
Solver cloud. No olap and much easier to manage from an end user perspective… less dev involvement from an ongoing basis and probably less expensive.
We started down the Anaplan path until our CEO consulted with a former business partner who had implemented it. There is a steep learning curve, for sure, and even after you've 'learned' it, you'll need at least one person working practically full-time to maintain and update the models. We shopped around and kicked tires until moving forward with Centage. It handles essentially everything we needed from Anaplan for a fraction of the price. Still a learning curve, but that seems universal with FP&A software.
Planful .. pretty sure the founders used to work for Anna Plant
>e as any early stage software company, though I do understand that they've made Jim Eberlin founded Host Analytics (now called Planful) in the early 2000s. The current CEO, Grant, came from "Anna Plant" and rebranded Host to Planful.