Enterprise application performance management is a process commonly used in software to help organizations such as government entities, education institutions, non-profits, and companies link their strategies to executions. In simpler terms, enterprise performance software is meant to help out companies with budgeting, forecasting, planning, modeling, financial consolidating, performance analysis, and reporting to name a few things. They can improve budget accuracy and streamline business operations, especially as it relates to their finances. With that said, here are the top three things to know about Enterprise Application Performance Software:
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1. EPM Has Been Around For A Long Time
The concept behind enterprise performance management software has been around for a very long time. In fact, the concept has really existed since the Industrial Revolution. Back then, EPM processes were all handled manually and on paper. By the 1970s, commercial software applications began to take hold across numerous companies, to the point that they began to be required for the collection of financial results and budgets. Spreadsheet software, in particular, became widely available by the 1980s, which allowed financial recording and reporting teams at companies to replace their previous manual worksheets and automate the building of financial budgets and reports.
Spreadsheets became even more streamlined and easier to use by the 1990s. Then, executive information systems were developed, which allowed financial teams to deliver KPI’s and graphics to senior executives on their computers, and the information could be shown in the form of scorecards and dashboards. Since the 1980s in particular, EPM software platforms evolved from becoming a mainframe system to a client-server system, and then to web browser-based applications.
2. EPM Software Benefits Businesses
EPM has numerous benefits for businesses and companies to the point that an entire book could be written on the subject (and indeed, many books have). And with each new generation of EPM software, even more, benefits are brought to the table as well. Previously, spreadsheets enabled accounting and financial staff to capture and automate the process of calculating data. The email made it incredibly easy for that date to be shared.
Today, packaged EPM software solutions have actually augmented spreadsheets. Which has greatly improved the reporting and planning processes with centralized control processes and databases. This, in turn, has helped to increase accountability across companies as well. But the real next big advancement in EPM software is the fact that it’s going cloud-based, which helps make it much faster to use, increases collaboration across companies and enterprises, and accelerates processes as well.
3. Complementing Other IT Systems
EPM software already provides a tremendous amount of value to companies and organizations. The reason it is able to do this is because of data that it captures and relies on from other IT systems, such as HCM, ERP, or CRM software systems. In fact, that’s really what EPM software in and of itself is: collecting and consolidating data that has already been either gathered or generated from other IT sources.
Using Enterprise Application Performance Software
In conclusion, enterprise application performance software is basically intended to help organize and companies execute their plans and strategies through planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidating and reporting finances, modeling, and analysis. Enterprise performance software has also grown rapidly in recent years and today is moving towards the cloud to help finance departments in companies better automate and accelerate their processes. As tech continues to develop even further, more applications such as enterprise application performance software are becoming even more important for businesses and eventually will become fully necessary if they aren’t already.
