The implementation was top notch and the annual conferences add a ton of value. The only improvement that needs to happen is on the Support side. The Support team is great and extremely knowledgeable and solves the issues, the problem is getting a hold of someone. They force you to send an email or a chat, but the chat is a bot. The response times are usually hours if not days, but again, once we get someone to answer our question, they always resolve the issue and are extremely helpful.

We have been able to decrease our Budget Cycle time with the use of AXIOM by almost 75% compared to our previous software. AXIOM has so much flexibility and customization that allows users to create custom reports and Budget plan files based on the exact needs of the bank.

The only limitation that we have seen so far and were able to bypass it through the customization within AXIOM is the Cash Flow engine. As we would expect , the results from the AXIOM Cash Flow engine vs the ALM software are very different and meaningful material variances that we do not feel comfortable running it for Planning.

I get the sense that financial institutions have taken a distant back seat to health care clients. Syntellis discusses having 3 main verticals: financial institutions, health care, and higher education. However, the years of Kaufman Hall ownership clearly solidified health care as their main vertical, and consequently, most of their support resources are allocated to health care clients. I miss the days when financial institution clients were cared for and treated well.

It's intuitive for Excel users since Excel sits behind the product. It's a powerful software that satisfies our needs in financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, profitability reporting, incentive compensation, loan pricing, risk-adjusted capital allocation, etc. I feel like the cost has been well worth the output and information gained.

When we partnered with Axiom EPM in late 2012, their support was incredible. We would often have our issues resolved within an hour. Now it takes several days, on average, for resolution. I submitted an urgent support ticket earlier in the week. 3 full business days have passed without assignment (I can see the current status in the customer portal). I've complained to them about their support for a few years now, including a 30 minute conversation with their previous [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] last year. They kept saying that they're working to improve support, but this week is evidence that there are still major problems, especially when it comes to supporting financial institution clients.

Reporting & Budgeting

Ability to quickly build dynamic reports.

Inconsistent formulas and set up, often glitchy.

Overall our experience with Axiom Software has been a positive one. I can't really imagine another software accomplishing everything to the same degree and allowing our organization the same workflows & user capabilities that we have today.

Axiom sent out a representative to be with our organization on site during implementation which helped us tremendously. We've never felt like we've been lacking customer support when software issues have arisen, and there is a lot of learning material available to let users become comfortable using the product quickly. I'm able to complete the majority of my work using the single platform which makes things a lot easier on users.

There always seems to be some bugs around software-update time which can cause some work-stoppage issues, but if you plan for updates it's nothing catastrophic. The forecasting features seem a little inferior compared to budgeting, but that could also be due to forecasting being such a new concept.

My most valued component of the software is the reporting capability. They have hundreds of standard reports but we more often build an use our own custom reports. We run multiple reports at the department, entity, regional, and consolidated level. Axiom allows you to process them all in a batch with a single click and they are packaged and delivered.

Over the years the product has grown significantly in it's capability and complexity. To be an expert takes a lot of time and some of the functionality could probably be designed in an easier to use fashion. Online documentation is available, but doesn't always answer your questions. Support is primarily done by email which isn't always the most effective like the old days of picking up the phone.