Corporate budgeting, forecasting and reporting can be a major contributor to a company’s success or failure. Yet, the annual budgeting process for most companies is hardly ideal. It usually involves investing a great deal of time to coordinate with line managers who typically see little benefit because the results are usually an outdated budget that has little effect on the company’s business. Spreadsheets and e-mail, chosen as a quick fix, create more problems.

With new technologies—such as planning and analysis solutions powered by IBM Cognos® software—companies are automating the process, getting faster reports and data that fuel “what is” and “what if” scenarios.