Adaptive Insights Software

Adaptive is a good substitute for the good old Excel. While it may automate most of the manual work, Adaptive has a quite a room for improvement and I am very hopeful they will continue to get better.

Pros

Adaptive Insights allows to effectively manage both actual data and budget data in one place. Interactive dashboard and data visualization provide real time metric. Another good feature is that it allows collaboration on projects across various departments of the company.

Cons

There were issues with foreign currency conversions that just shouldn't be there in this type of software. It also uses Java which sometimes gives inconsistent user experience (or just won't respond) depending on the browser used and the version of Java installed. The security permissions for users were also not very intuitive to set up.

Pros

Adaptive planning is a great forecasting tool for accounting and it provides multiple ways or scenarios to see the project status and to decide upon.

Cons

The software is good but have issues with its responsiveness and some glitches while pulling the data from the excel and converting them.

I would recommend this product hands down over the competitors.

Pros

Full-featured software with all the bells and whistles. It has unlimited flexibility in reporting and analysis options. The reporting features are extremely easy to use, and they can be customized and shared with ease.

Cons

Requires a lot of training to use, but it's worth it in the long run. The software is expensive, and it does require assistance with implementation since there is so much to do to get it up and running.

Pros

User friendly and adaptable. Will help keep you organized and get the job done. Budgeting and forecasting creation was excellent. Helped with a focus on KPI's and benefitted from building dashboard. Great experience with customer service. Very friendly and quick to respond.

Cons

Set up took awhile. Slight learning curve. At times page loading slow. As a netsuite user I have had data integration issues. Adaptive did its job. No other complaints.

Pros

- direct integration with netsuite
-ease of use once established
-maintains various types of data including personnel information and financial reporting

Cons

- inability to run reporting on one entity (only runs in consolidation)
- inability to modify reports without creating a new report
- functionality to drill into detail is hit or miss

Pros

I have been in FP&A for for 5 years and have become somewhat versed in different systems and adaptive has been the best. Super fast updates with the ability to create different forecast scenarios.

Cons

Some of its features don't work on Macs, but otherwise nothing to serious here.

Pros

The ease of creating forecast versions provides a quick way to develop multiple scenarios during the forecasting process.

Cons

The performance, in terms of responsiveness, in rendering of the sheets and reports, is quite slow. Also, setting up model account calculations, is not as easy.

Pros

It has all the features you would expect in your financial tool and they are constantly upgrading and adding addiitonal features. Customer support has been excellent and they actually seem to care about their customers.

Cons

Reporting functionality within the system could be enhanced. The native reporting is not that easy to use, would prefer better canned reporting functionality.

It is a great system and the company is putting a lot of work into the product.

Pros

I like how it is easy to use and that they thought of the things that we really need to do our job. It looks good and works.

Cons

They have an excel add in you can use and I love it. I allows you to use excel to pull data from the system and make your own reports. However, there are sometimes glitches so that's annoying.

This is a very robust software, that allows a strong look into the performance of your Company. The software has changed the way we are able to analyze our business.

Pros

I love the adaptability and ability to gain access to various information. It has allowed much greater access to analyzing our Key Performance Indicators.

Cons

For items that are not uniformly put into our accounting system, there are some workarounds needed to figure out how to display the correct data.

Pros

The one the fly budgeting and forecasting is top notch. It's powerful and makes planning for financial future not nearly as painful as it needs to be.

Cons

It takes a little time to become well versed with the product. The fact that it is so robust and powerful makes it overwhelming, but once you learn the platform, you'll appreciate how robust it is.

Pros

Very useful product. Depending on business needs it provides the extent of capabilities to manage and govern your business both operationally and financially

Cons

The reporting side is a little light for my needs. I like flexibility in customizing my reports to my needs.

Extremely flexible planning and reporting tool. Requires good knowledgeable about (I) the business, (ii) company's finance and accounting practices and (iii) ERP and ancillary systems.

I've been using Adaptive for about 6 months now. I'm using a model that was created by my predecessor, so I had to learn how things were set up by them. Once you get the hang of it, it's not a bad tool to use, but it's not always intuitive. I think I would have a better time if I had implemented the original model myself, but I'm getting used to it. They recently moved away from Java based reporting, which has improved the reporting system interface.

Pros

Create as simple or as complex models as you desire.
Custom reporting
Roadmap with new features coming in 2017

Cons

Not excel based
Complicated variables and formulas

This tool enables the user easily develop (with minimal time) a nicely tailored template for what-if and Actual situational planning, forecasting and reporting of a variety of metrics. Project / performance management is assisted greatly through liberal use of intuitive dashboards and analytical tools.

Pros

> Strong, secure environment - clearly developed with an appreciation of how to treat company sensitive data.
> Appropriate security levels are easily established and maintained.
> Cloud-based connectivity is the only way to go - AI does a nice job of leveraging this platform.

Cons

> Some effort is required for setup as programming keys are built on a one-by-one basis and thus training is essential for the new user.
> From an international perspective, the consolidation of multiple currency / FX data needs additional development.
> MS Office connectivity is too limited and the user is tempted to use other sw apps where integration is superior to AI architecture.

Advice to Others

Don't try to 'boil the ocean' initially. Suggest a slow build up as the user learns how the software strengths and limitations with a complex project.

There is nothing else out there that is even close to Adaptive Insights. Perfect solution for planning, consolidations, reporting and analysis. Nobody else is even close to it. Appropriate for multiple users, in multiple locations and security is of major concern as the security provided by them is amazing.

Pros

User Friendly.
Amazing user interface.
Simple and very poewrful.
Amazing customer support.
Data Integration.

Cons

Cost is high.

AI provides cost-effective consolidation of accounts across departments and even companies. It ensures that latest data is available across networks, which remains secure and is easy to manage and generate reports. The main advantage is that it develops continuously on a large user base and the backend support is always on their toes to improve the functionality of the system to better suit the business it is set up for. The time required to set it up initially is totally worth it as it offers unparalleled performance later. Another advantage is that it is really easy to track changes and thus makes it a viable tool for audit purposes. It has the capability to connect to multiple data sources and generate front end user reports.
Making changes in the system, later on, can be a little expensive so a proper analysis of the requirements initially is very important. Apart from that it is a must have software in your toolbox.

Pros

Great support

Cons

Changes in system are expensive

Advice to Others

Highly recommended for all types of industries.

Adaptive Insight is an amazing software which comes with a lot of features integrated to it. They do have an amazing customer support team which is always there to solve your problem. Though the price of the software is little high apart from that it is perfect, can't think of any other con.

Adaptive Insights is an excellent tool for maintaining data as it allows for entries in the system through just an internet connection without the need of a VPN. The administrator can set up different levels of security in order to protect the information, thus maintaining the confidentiality of data. It is definitely better than most of the other management software's available owing to its dynamic response to data and reporting capabilities.

Pros

1. Access to the sensitive information like employee salaries and the management criteria's are limited to authorized people.
2. Only needs an internet connection to access information on the system.
3. Minimal involvement of IT Department in setting up the system after the environment, so the system maintains the security of sensitive information.

Cons

1. There should be an improvement in the consolidation of data involving multiple currencies.
2. It takes some time to set up the environment as programming formulae have to be one by one and so it requires training at the initial level.
3. The connectivity of MS Office is still limited and there are some other software's which offer better integration.

Advice to Others

I believe the limitations of the software should not prevent the use of the software in any business setup. It still is one of the best tools which handles information very efficiently and can also be accessed remotely. Thumbs up from me.

Adaptive is a much better tool than Excel in handling data as time is not wasted in linking different spreadsheets and validating versions. It is easier to implement throughout the organization so that managers and employees can log in to check the status. It makes the process of monthly forecasting easy and this we can focus on analyzing the results rather than spending time in gathering data in Excel.

Pros

1. Adaptive can link to Office Connect and users can remotely connect to the system without the need of a VPN.
2. What-if scenarios help the managers to design systems which give it a strong forecasting ability.
3. It offers a dynamic interface and offers a cloud access by means of which people can enter data from anywhere and trends are visible dynamically.

Cons

1. It requires quite a bit of practice to be proficient in the use of Adaptive. So, it takes some time to be an efficient user of the software.
2. The graphics are not that great, so you might an additional software to get presentable results.
3. Monthly forecasting is the lowest level of forecasting that we can see which limits its use to an extent if businesses want to see more detailed forecasting.

Advice to Others

I would recommend Adaptive to organizations which require a decent level of monthly forecasting and does not require high-level graphics in the results. It is an efficient tool for budgeting and is a much better tool than excel.