Market Perspectives

Over the past decade, close-management software has evolved to enable even midsize organizations to streamline department processes, operate in a virtual mode, accelerate the accounting close and reduce staff stress. It’s one step toward continuous accounting, which is defined by Office of Finance Research Director Robert Kugel as an approach to managing transactions recording and accounting that...

Data platforms are designed to manage and analyze big data, enabling organizations to leverage their data to operate with greater efficiency across on-premises, hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Our Analytics and Data Benchmark Research finds that while 58% are using big data in their analytics processes, less than one quarter (23%) are satisfied with their technology’s support for big data....

Power ON is software designed for organizations to streamline their business planning, budgeting, forecasting, reviewing and reporting, in order to make these processes more effective and accurate. Organizations do a lot of planning: In addition to the budget, they plan headcount, sales, production and their supply chain, as well as other business functions, and traditionally execute this using...

A digital finance and accounting organization is one that uses software to enhance efficiency by eliminating manual operations and automating workflows, improving financial data quality. This is especially relevant to small to midsize organizations that need to minimize administrative overhead yet still have financial controls and operational visibility to achieve and sustain profitable growth. A...

Total Compensation Management (TCM) is a strategic HCM area focused on the processes, data, analytics and technology capabilities needed to achieve an integrated and holistic approach to rewarding employees for their value and contributions. One aspect of TCM is pay equity which, simply defined, means pay comparability and fairness and a lack of bias. It is an organization’s ability to determine...

With more and more data available to analyze, organizations are realizing the value that sophisticated analyses using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) can provide. The benefits of these analyses are significant: our Dynamic Insights research on machine learning finds that organizations most often benefit through competitive advantage, but also improved customer experiences,...

Business improvement stems from technology investments that advance automation and apply intelligence to your work and processes, increasing the potential achievement of desired outcomes. Assessing vendors and utilizing technology for optimization and innovation is the foundation for digital transformation, and our chief research officer asserts that by 2025, over one-half of organizations will...

The virtualization of business and the evolution of digital transformation to applications and systems that operate in cloud computing — or the “as-a-service” environment — has fragmented enterprise and data architectures. The role of cloud computing has become a utility to provide elastic resources in support of operational needs. For example, data in the cloud requirements are provided by...

The artificial intelligence industry is unique in that it has evolved to the point of making dramatic impacts across other markets. AI is used to help businesses scale, improve customer experiences, decrease waste and streamline cumbersome tasks. Ventana Research sees the need for AI innovation for the future of technology and the many other industries it influences, but making such tools...

Performance management helps organizations understand, optimize and align performance through a variety of methods and processes and is an essential part of what is called digital business. For many organizations, engaging employees through a series of check-ups, goal tracking and kudos to encourage and motivate them helps ensure that expected people and operational performance is realized. But...

Robotic process automation has developed into a significant part of the enterprise software and low- to no-code development approach in the past few years. Organizations utilize the software primarily to automate predictable, rule-based, repetitive tasks, but the use is now expanding into more intelligent automation. Ventana Research sees the need for further innovation within the RPA market to...

For disruptive technology companies, maturity is often accompanied by the realization that customer retention and expansion are as important as a new logo acquisition. Arriving at this realization is one thing; reorienting your organization to it is another. The necessity of aligning revenue-generating functions in business-to-business technology has been common knowledge for quite some time....

Business continuity — especially during a pandemic, natural disaster, cyber event or geopolitical situation — requires business and risk mitigation processes. Unfortunately, few organizations are prepared to respond appropriately. Whether an organization rises to the challenge or descends into survival mode is determined by the way it meets the expectations of the workforce, customers,...

When you think about it, events are at the very core of computing, right down to the simplest if-then operation in a spreadsheet. Each event leads to a set of choices, often binary, which then become events in themselves. As computing has become more ubiquitous and has developed into the architecture upon which all business and commerce runs, the events themselves have become more consequential...