FloQast vs IBM Planning Analytics

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Our analysts compared FloQast vs IBM Planning Analytics based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Accounting Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

IBM Planning Analytics Software Tool

Product Basics

FloQast is a comprehensive software solution designed to streamline and enhance the accounting processes for businesses. It is particularly well-suited for medium to large-sized companies looking for an efficient way to manage their accounting tasks, including closing books faster and more accurately. One of the key benefits of using FloQast is its ability to improve collaboration among accounting team members, thereby enhancing overall productivity. The software boasts popular features such as close management, reconciliation, and integration with existing ERP systems, which collectively help in automating and simplifying the accounting workflow. When compared to similar products in the market, users often highlight FloQast's user-friendly interface and robust support as distinguishing factors. Pricing considerations for FloQast typically involve a subscription model, where the cost can vary based on the size of the organization and the specific features required, ensuring that businesses only pay for what they need. Payment frequency is usually on a monthly or annual basis, providing flexibility to suit different budgeting requirements.
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IBM Planning Analytics is a multidimensional in-memory database for analytics and planning. Part of the IBM Analytics Suite and powered by TM1, it provides forecasting, budgeting and reporting at an enterprise scale through data compression. With all data connected to a central hub, it enables collaborative planning with workflow approvals and review protocols in place. Enterprises perform OLAP analysis faster through in-memory technology.

Integrating with Microsoft Excel, it gives businesses the ease and familiarity of working with spreadsheets with the power of an enterprise database. With automated time-series modeling, it enables self-service predictive analysis. The vendor offers a 30-day free trial.
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$1,920 Annually
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$825 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Insights

  • Speedy Accounting Process: Connect people, documents and reconciliations for a streamlined accounting process. Boost the most common accounting processes like expense management, billing and credit and close at an average of three days faster.
  • Easy Collaboration: Provide the tools to connect team members quickly and easily anywhere, anytime. Operate as a single, unified virtual team from anywhere.  
  • Stay Audit Ready: Organize data to keep the business ready for smooth and efficient audits by documenting and time-stamping all the work processes. 
  • Streamline Accounting Workflow: Streamline and automate common accounting workflow to save time, money and person-hours that would be otherwise spent on mundane tasks.  
  • Easy Integration: Integrate with ERP systems and Excel workbooks to automate reconciliation ties-ups. Leverage traditional accounting tools. 
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  • Maximize ROI: Save time for analysis of trends, business performance and results by creating project plans faster. Reallocate budget and resources by leveraging deep insights into business performance and market trends. Collaborate with others on a single, unified platform with total transparency and visibility into business data, available for all plans. 
  • Boost Sales: Win more business opportunities – boost annual sales quotas and deal sizes through end-to-end sales workflows. Grow revenue and reduce time to insight with robust sales analytics. Track campaigns for performance monitoring in real time and deep dive into data for buying behavior and customer churn analysis. 
  • Financial Planning and Analysis: Optimize the business’ performance through valuable financial insights. Ensure the business is on track by creating and managing plans, budgets and forecasts. Simplifies the budgeting process through real-time calculations with automatic application of business rules. 
  • Optimize Supply Chain: Create more accurate demand forecasts, get a clearer view of the resources and budget required to fulfill projected demand and update production plans accordingly. View historical data and drill down into summaries for deep-dive analysis and add visuals to spot key KPI trends. 
  • Workforce Planning: Increase the workforce’s efficiency by acquiring and retaining skilled employees at the right time. Effectively manage staff schedules, task assignment and performance tracking through workforce analytics and HR planning tools. 
  • Deploy Anywhere: Access the same data from everywhere with the flexibility to deploy on-premise, in the cloud or as a combination of both. 
  • Scalable: Build and change plans flexibly in real time to match business requirements. Scales with increasing data volumes, number of users and planning models, without impacting existing workflows and performance. 
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  • Security: Get SOC1 Type II certifications, which ensure review viability by a third-party auditor. Leverage a financial management software that utilizes SSL 256 AES encryption and leading authentication protocols. 
  • Multi-Currency Support: Support all the major currencies, giving businesses the power to conduct transactions globally and seamlessly manage the month-end close across international boundaries 
  • Zero Storage Fee: Ensure that sensitive data gets well secured in the system without charging an extra fee.  
  • Implementation: Get implementation on the phone by a team of CPAs and accounting experts in only a few weeks, unlike other alternatives, which can take months.  
  • GL Integration: Provide seamless integration with Cloud ERP that pulls out the GL balance and automatically matches it to the Excel spreadsheet, without any human intervention 
  • Quick Implementation: Get it up and running in a few weeks. Eliminate costly, time-consuming implementations that come with associated risks.  
  • Other Products:
    • Close Management: Use Close to ensure that wrapping up the books is quick and easy. Save three days every month by organizing, automating and executing the close in the cloud.  
    • Account Reconciliation: Use Auto Rec Matching to match bank transactions to the general ledger in real time. Improve your account reconciliation without spending hours manipulating, color coding and copy-pasting data in Excel. Automate the accounting process and reduce review time and audit questions.  
    • Financial Reporting: Prepare the data for IPO day by documenting and assigning everything in the close process. Identify bottlenecks while the model documents and assigns respective work to team members. 
    • Flux: Automate report building and gain the flexibility to meet the business’s requirements. Deliver flux reports on time by periodically tracking sign-offs and communication. 
    • Analyze: Get rich insights to identify the problem areas and maximize productivity to enhance future closes. Promote a culture of accountability and improvement with historical financial data 
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  • Architecture: Leverage a three-tier client-server architecture that includes a database, application server and front end, with data stored centrally in the OLAP server. 
    • TM1: Employs an efficient data compression algorithm to enable faster planning and analytics. Create business models by combining multiple data sources with manual input for effective decision-making. 
  • Workspace: Create and access all plans and forecasts through its web-based interface. Grant role-based access to team members down to cell-level granularity. Collaborate on plans through chats and cell comments in the workspace. 
    • Data Visualizations: Choose from a rich library of visualizations to apply that includes bullet charts, waterfall charts, treemaps, word clouds and more. Input data intuitively to specific slots through drag-and-drop actions, and customize fonts and styles for personalized branding. 
    • Books and Views: Access related data in the form of web sheets, scorecards, videos and embedded web pages from a single interface. Leverage defined selections of a data cube — views — for analysis and data exploration, and export as an Excel worksheet. 
  • Performance Tracking: Compare targets with actual results, and with actual performance over time. Quickly find the desired metrics and create visually compelling scorecards such as impact diagrams, strategy maps and custom diagrams. Add existing scorecards to books and analyze data over different periods, metrics and dimensions. 
  • Data Modeling: Autonomously build a financial model by converting business requirements into cubes, dimensions, hierarchies and calculations. Transform and load data easily into a financial model, without the need to code. 
  • Sandbox Environments: Work in a sandbox to manipulate data as needed in real time without impacting actual data. Compare different scenarios and test assumptions to see the impact of potential decisions. 
  • Microsoft Excel Integration: Go beyond what spreadsheets can do – perform multi-dimensional analysis and big data exploration within the Excel interface, retaining its full functionality and formatting. Find answers to business questions by creating reports from Cognos TM1 through interactive drag-and-drop actions. 
  • AI-Based Automation: Speed up planning cycles and get more reliable results. Create plans, forecasts and budgets through automated model creation, natural language processing and cognitive analytics. 
  • On-Demand Module: Generate dynamic dashboards from existing Excel spreadsheets through autonomous data exploration. Move from annual planning to rolling forecasts based on real-time information by identifying variances in plans caused by external data. 
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#133

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#335

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User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 52 reviews
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97%
of users recommend this product

FloQast has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 97% when considering 52 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

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4.83 (52)
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Awards

FloQast stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Streamlined Close Process: FloQast offers features to centralize and automate tasks, such as reconciliations and checklists, which can significantly reduce the time it takes to close the books each month.
Improved Visibility and Control: The platform provides real-time dashboards and reporting tools that give accounting teams better insights into the close process, allowing for proactive issue identification and resolution.
Enhanced Collaboration: FloQast facilitates communication and collaboration among team members by providing a centralized platform for task management, document sharing, and communication.
Reduced Risk of Errors: Automation and standardization of processes can help minimize the risk of human error, leading to more accurate financial reporting.
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Flexible Modeling: Users praise the software's ability to handle complex planning scenarios with ease, such as building detailed driver-based models for budgeting and forecasting.
Improved Collaboration: The platform facilitates better communication and data sharing among teams, streamlining the budgeting and forecasting process.
Powerful Reporting and Analytics: Users appreciate the robust reporting features, allowing them to generate insightful reports and dashboards for data visualization and analysis.
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Steep Learning Curve: The initial setup and configuration of FloQast can be complex, requiring significant time investment and training to understand its functionalities and workflows effectively.
Limited Customization: FloQast's features and workflows may not align perfectly with the specific needs and preferences of all accounting teams, potentially leading to inefficiencies or workarounds.
Integration Challenges: Integrating FloQast with existing accounting software or other business systems can be technically challenging and may require additional IT support or custom development.
Cost Considerations: FloQast's pricing structure may be a concern for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets, as the cost can vary depending on the number of users and features required.
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Steep Learning Curve: Users have reported that IBM Planning Analytics can be difficult to learn, especially for those without prior experience with similar tools. Its interface and terminology can feel overwhelming initially.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Some users have expressed frustration with the reporting functionality within Planning Analytics, finding it less intuitive and flexible compared to dedicated reporting tools. They desire more advanced formatting and customization options for presenting financial data.
Performance Issues: Users have occasionally encountered performance issues, particularly when dealing with large datasets or complex calculations. This can slow down budgeting and forecasting processes, impacting overall productivity.
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FloQast is a cloud-based accounting software specializing in cash flow management, bank reconciliation, and financial close processes. While some users praise its ease of use and time-saving features like automated reconciliation for various accounts, others express concerns about its price and limited features compared to competitors. For example, unlike Bill4Time, FloQast is a standalone accounting solution, meaning it may not integrate with as many other business tools. FloQast's strength lies in its focus on streamlining financial close processes with templatized checklists for tasks like requesting information from department heads and confirming payments. This makes it particularly well-suited for businesses that prioritize efficient financial close procedures. However, businesses seeking a more comprehensive accounting solution with extensive integrations might find FloQast lacking.

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User reviews from the past year suggest IBM Planning Analytics is a powerful tool for businesses seeking to streamline their financial planning and analysis processes. Users praise its robust features, particularly its budgeting, forecasting, and reporting capabilities. One standout feature is its ability to handle complex "what-if" scenarios, allowing businesses to model different outcomes based on various factors, which is crucial for making informed decisions in a volatile market. However, users also point out some drawbacks. The learning curve can be steep, especially for those unfamiliar with similar software. Some users find the interface less intuitive than competitors like Anaplan or Cube, and the pricing can be a significant investment for smaller businesses. Despite these weaknesses, users generally agree that IBM Planning Analytics offers a comprehensive solution for businesses needing advanced planning and analysis capabilities. Its ability to integrate with other IBM products and handle large datasets makes it particularly well-suited for larger enterprises with complex financial operations.

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