Adaptive Insights Research Reveals CFOs Are Becoming More Nimble and Strategic as They Prepare for Growth

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2014) - Adaptive Insights, the worldwide leader in cloud business and financial analytics for companies and nonprofits of all sizes, today revealed that CFOs are taking on a more strategic decision-making function, and increasingly relying on financial planning to guide overall corporate strategy. The latest Adaptive Insights quarterly Business Volatility & Variables survey of over 300 U.S. finance professionals found that nearly half of respondents plan on re-forecasting and re-planning their financials more frequently due to uncertainties like government turmoil and healthcare reform.

The Business Volatility and Variables survey confirms that CFOs are increasing their strategic role in the areas of planning, budgeting, and business decision-making. According to the survey, the majority of financial professionals are optimistic about the economy but wearily eyeing ever-changing market conditions. These corporate finance leaders are looking for new tools to help create more flexible financial plans that can be efficiently altered according to changes in market conditions. They don't want to continue to waste time and money trying to implement and maintain cumbersome and costly legacy on-premise CPM software, or review and reconcile non-collaborative, error-prone spreadsheets.

Increasingly, industry-leading companies are implementing intuitive, cloud-based solutions and getting exceptional ROI results in return. For example, a major medical device manufacturer featured in a recent Nucleus Research ROI Case Study achieved a 236 percent ROI and annual benefits of hundreds of thousands of dollars by implementing Adaptive's fully-integrated, cloud BI & CPM suite.

"The dynamic economy has driven CFOs to change their processes and upgrade their solutions," said Rob Hull, Founder & President, Adaptive Insights. "Adaptive has kept ahead of this industry trend by evolving everything from our product line to our corporate brand in order to help these CFOs understand the impact of changing market conditions, and leverage technology to make informed, strategic decisions within that environment. This is why major enterprises stay with us for years: we deliver a 360 degree view of the past, present, and future that is necessary for CFOs to make the best possible decisions."

Other findings from the Adaptive Insights Business Volatility & Variables survey include:

Optimistic Outlook for U.S. Economy

While economic optimism for 2014 declined among CFOs compared to 2013 (75 percent in Q4 2013 versus 81 percent in Q2 2013), CFOs have remained cautiously optimistic about the overall economy and future expectations since April 2013. In fact, 80 percent see current economic conditions equal to or better than they were six months ago, and 80 percent predict further improvements over the next six months.

Healthcare and Jobs Outlook Weigh Heavily

Although most CFOs are optimistic about the economy, they are wisely keeping tabs on industry-altering issues. The U.S. Federal Budget Crisis (63 percent) leads their list of concerns, with healthcare reform (60 percent), unemployment (43 percent), deficit reduction (40 percent), and housing (17 percent) issues completing the top five.

Higher Spending, Bigger Profit Margins

The survey found that financial optimism is not exclusive to just the overall economy. Forty-two percent of participants expect larger profit margins in the next six months, which is up from 36 percent in Q2 2013. Additionally, 34 percent of financial experts plan to increase spending in the next six months (an increase from 28 percent in Q2 2013).

Re-Plan, Re-Forecast, Re-Budget, Repeat

To combat uncertainty, planning needs to be conducted optimally and often, according to the financial experts polled. Nearly 30 percent of respondents re-plan, re-forecast, and re-create "what if" analysis on a monthly basis, and 50 percent plan to do all three more frequently during 2014 due to economic uncertainty.

CFOs Engaging in More Strategic Planning and Risk Management

Eighty percent of respondents said that financial planning is taking on a more significant role within their corporate strategy. New, powerful financial planning solutions like the Adaptive Suite are helping CFOs streamline growth metrics and improve financial visibility. With this added insight and time-savings, CFOs are reportedly taking on a bigger, more strategic role in a variety of areas, including:

• Financial planning and budgeting (52 percent)
• Business strategy & decision-making (43 percent)
• Risk management (42 percent)
• Growth strategies and business model assessment (35 percent)

These new solutions have given CFOs instant access to critical information and the time to use that information to drive critical business decisions. To learn how companies are leveraging new, intuitive technology, read the Nucleus Research ROI Case Study.

For the complete survey information, visit: http://www.adaptiveinsights.com/uploads/docs/Adaptive-Insights-Q4-2013-Business-Volatility-and-Variables-survey-summary.pdf

About Adaptive Insights

Adaptive Insights is the worldwide leader in cloud-based business analytics solutions for companies and nonprofits of all sizes. The company's software as a service (SaaS) platform allows finance and management teams to work together to plan, monitor, report on, and analyze financial and operational performance. With capabilities for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, consolidation, dashboards, and business intelligence, Adaptive Insights enables finance, sales, and other business leaders to make better, faster, more collaborative decisions that drive a true competitive advantage. Adaptive Insights is used by over 1,900 organizations worldwide, from midsized companies and nonprofits to large corporations, including AAA, Boston Scientific, CORT, Konica Minolta, NetSuite, Philips, and Vail Resorts. The company is the #1 fastest growing cloud business analytics and CPM software company on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ list; and ranks #1 in customer satisfaction in independent industry surveys. With customers and partners in 85 countries worldwide, the company has the strongest channel ecosystem in the cloud CPM space, with worldwide partners including Armanino, Intacct, IntuitiveTek, Plex Systems, SAP, and NetSuite, which offers a specialized version of Adaptive Insights as the NetSuite Financial Planning Module. Adaptive Insights is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and is funded by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), ONSET Ventures, Monitor Ventures, and Cardinal Venture Capital.

About the Business Volatility and Variables Survey

This Business Volatility and Variables poll has taken a unique quarterly pulse of finance professionals' views and opinions of current and future economic conditions and considerations. It is conducted in cooperation with the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network, and gathers responses from more than 300 finance professionals in North America.