ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives (20)

Tap Into AI To Do More by Doing Less

Posted by Robert Kugel on 14 December 2023

Doing more by doing less means using artificial intelligence and related technologies to make financial planning and analysis organizations more productive. By eliminating low-value and unproductive work, AI enables FP&A teams to free up considerable time for more useful and consequential forecasting, planning, budgeting, analysis and reporting. AI isn’t some far-off capability. It’s already... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Continuous Planning, Business Planning

Oracle Evolves Database Services for Generative AI and Multi-Cloud

Posted by Matt Aslett on 13 December 2023

I previously described how Oracle had positioned its database portfolio to address any and all data platform requirements. The caveat to that statement at the time was that any organization wanting to take advantage of the company’s flagship Oracle Autonomous Database could only do so using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) cloud computing service, their own datacenter or a hybrid cloud... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Data Management, Data, Digital Technology, analytic data platforms, Analytics and Data

Research Reveals the Importance of Technology in Shortening the Close

Posted by Robert Kugel on 12 December 2023

We conducted our recent Smart Financial Close Dynamic Insights Research in part to assess to what extent the substantial disruptions of the pandemic have impacted the accounting close. When office lockdowns began in the first quarter of 2020, many finance departments were challenged to conduct the quarterly close remotely without face-to-face interactions. In the United States, the Securities and... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Financial Performance Management, ERP and Continuous Accounting, Smart Financial Close

insightsoftware’s Portfolio Boosts Office of Finance Productivity

Posted by Robert Kugel on 08 December 2023

insightsoftware offers a portfolio of software designed mainly for the office of finance to handle reporting, budgeting and planning, consolidation and close management, business intelligence (BI) and analytics, as well as compliance. The company’s applications directly address a core issue confronting many finance department executives today: Productivity. The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, analytic data platforms

Verint’s AI Strategy Takes Shape

Posted by Keith Dawson on 08 December 2023

Verint’s November analyst conference was an opportunity to flesh out the strategies unveiled earlier in the year on AI deployment and on “Open CCaaS,” a moniker describing how contact centers are provisioned going forward. The company displayed notable progress, particularly in rolling out AI bots for numerous real-world applications. Open CCaaS is Verint’s way of stating to the industry that a... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, bots, agent management

Today’s Go-to-Market Strategies Must Align Sales and Marketing

Posted by Stephen Hurrell on 07 December 2023

There are stark reminders that all is not well in business-to-business sales and marketing land. Many organizations struggle to hit revenue targets, and individuals consistently fail to hit their quotas. Various reasons are put forward, but the more convincing argument is that buyer behavior has transformed over the years, requiring changes to the traditional way of engaging with B2B prospects... Read More

Topics: Office of Revenue

The Buyers Guide for Global Payroll Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Mark Smith on 30 November 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The 2023 Global Payroll Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the real-world criteria... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

Board Enables High-Performing FP&A Organizations

Posted by Robert Kugel on 29 November 2023

Board offers a platform that enables financial planning and analysis (FP&A) groups to forecast, plan, budget, analyze and report, using a consistent set of data from across the business to speed these processes, improve forecast and planning accuracy, and accelerate analysis and reporting. Board was categorized as an Exemplary Vendor in our Ventana Research Business Planning Value Index, with... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Continuous Planning, Business Planning, Operations & Supply Chain, Enterprise Resource Planning

Boomi Promotes Business-Focused Integration Modernization

Posted by Matt Aslett on 29 November 2023

I recently articulated some of the reasons why IT teams can fail to deliver on the business requirements for data and analytics projects. This is an age-old and multifaceted problem that is not easily solved. Organizations have a role to play in alleviating the issue by ensuring that their business processes and project planning support a collaborative approach in which business and IT... Read More

Topics: Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Data Management, Data, Digital Technology, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning

Global Payroll Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Mark Smith on 29 November 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Global Payroll research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. The payroll preparation process has long been an inefficient, labor-intensive set of administrative tasks designed to ensure that everyone is paid correctly and on time. Historically, it has been a transactional- and compliance-centered function involving manual... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

The Buyers Guide for Domestic Payroll Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Mark Smith on 28 November 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The 2023 Domestic Payroll Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the real-world criteria... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

Domestic Payroll Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Mark Smith on 27 November 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Domestic Payroll research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. The payroll preparation process has long been an inefficient, labor-intensive set of administrative tasks designed to ensure that everyone is paid correctly and on time. Historically, it has been a transactional- and compliance-centered function involving... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

A Practical Approach to Managing ESG

Posted by Robert Kugel on 22 November 2023

The emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has been growing for some time. I participated in the development of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as a software industry expert more than a decade ago. The rise of ESG’s profile in corporate reporting is the latest evolution of “responsible investing,” a topic that goes back centuries in the west. The modern... Read More

Topics: Governance, Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting, ESG, Environmental, Inclusion

The Buyers Guide for Payroll Management Classifies and Rates Vendors

Posted by Mark Smith on 22 November 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The 2023 Payroll Management Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories that reflect the real-world criteria... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

Decoupling Interaction Routing with BYOT in Contact Center Software

Posted by Keith Dawson on 21 November 2023

For at least five years, it has been clear that innovation in technology for communication and business processes is accelerating. This year, that trend has been especially notable with the explosive emergence of artificial intelligence in the contact center software market. But what tends to get lost in the excitement around innovation is what sits downstream of the development process: the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management, CCaaS, ACD

Payroll Management Buyers Guide: Market Observations

Posted by Mark Smith on 21 November 2023

The 2023 Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Payroll Management research enables me to provide observations about how the market has advanced. The payroll preparation process has long been an inefficient, labor-intensive set of administrative tasks designed to ensure that everyone is paid correctly and on time. Historically, this has been a transactional- and compliance-centered function that... Read More

Topics: Human Capital Management, Payroll Management

MongoDB Targets Relational and Generative AI Workloads

Posted by Matt Aslett on 21 November 2023

I previously wrote about how document-database providers have added support for ACID transactions and the SQL query language, making their products increasingly suitable for use as replacements for applications that previously depended on relational databases. Adoption of non-relational NoSQL databases is by no means reliant on displacing incumbent relational databases, and initial adoption is... Read More

Topics: Data

NetSuite Emphasizes AI and Expanded Capabilities at SuiteWorld

Posted by Robert Kugel on 16 November 2023

SuiteWorld, the annual user conference from Oracle NetSuite, focused on three topics: artificial intelligence, a reimagination of the role NetSuite can play in managing an organization and emphasizing the value to existing customers of using more of what NetSuite has to offer. AI has been a major theme in this year’s business software user group meetings, spurred by ChatGPT’s brilliant... Read More

Topics: Office of Finance, Business Planning, ERP and Continuous Accounting

The Key Value of Database Simplicity

Posted by Matt Aslett on 15 November 2023

I have previously written about the functional evolution and emerging use cases for NoSQL databases, a category of non-relational databases that first emerged 15 or so years ago and are now well established as potential alternatives to relational databases. NoSQL is a term used to describe a variety of databases that fall into four primary functional categories: key-value stores, wide-column... Read More

Topics: Cloud Computing, Data, Digital Technology, data operations, Analytics and Data

Snowflake Expands Data Platform with Container Services

Posted by Matt Aslett on 07 November 2023

I previously wrote about the challenge facing distributed SQL database providers to avoid becoming pigeonholed as only being suitable for a niche set of requirements. Factors including performance, reliability, security and scalability provide a focal point for new vendors to differentiate from established providers and get a foot in the door with customer accounts. Expanding and retaining those... Read More

Topics: Analytics, Cloud Computing, Data, Digital Technology, Streaming Data Events, analytic data platforms, Analytics and Data, AI and Machine Learning