Host Analytics Delivers New Capabilities in Cloud-Based Modeling Solution

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 22, 2015) - Host Analytics, the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM), today announced new capabilities in Host Analytics Modeling Cloud designed to help organizations drive deeper insights from operational models, empower mobile users with interactive analysis and integrate data from any operational system. Highlights include:

• Advanced Analytics - To support more sophisticated modeling and provide more predictive analytics, Host Analytics Modeling Cloud now supports many popular analytical functions. These provide out-of-the-box support for logarithmic and exponential calculations, floor and ceiling calculations, modulo operations, and more. For example, a retailer can now calculate a Labor Plan based on historical and forecasted sales, store category, and store capacity with calculated thresholds by store, which then drive staffing requirements.
• Mobile-Optimized User Interface - As EPM increasingly becomes a framework for aligning and measuring operational functions, the user audience has become more distributed and more mobile. Host Analytics Modeling Cloud automatically detects whether a user is on a phone or a tablet and optimizes the mobile user experience by streamlining the control ribbon, displaying frequently used buttons, and making it easier to view more data without the need for scrolling.
• Data Integration - Host Analytics Modeling Cloud helps unite financial and operational planning by providing the flexibility needed to address the diverse use-cases involved in planning various operational functions. With new data integration APIs, those operational planning applications easily access and integrate data from any operational source, including packaged applications for CRM, HCM or marketing automation, as well as custom and home-grown applications.

Customer Commentary
"As the Finance function has evolved in recent years to play an even more critical role in anticipating business outcomes, Modeling capabilities that allow our team to conduct 'what-if' scenario planning and become agile are a 'must-have' for any leading EPM solution," said Mahesh Patel, CFO for Druva Inc. "The flexibility of Host Analytics' cloud-based approach has enabled us to implement rapidly while maintaining an amazing amount of flexibility to manage our continuously changing business environment."

Analyst Commentary
"Host Analytics Modeling Cloud is designed to address an important need in corporate planning -- closely tying all aspects of business planning to financial planning and budgeting and helping organizations collaborate across business silos," said Robert Kugel, SVP Research for Ventana Research. "Business planning can be more effective if individuals have software that gives them a high degree of flexibility to create models and plans in a way that works comfortably for them yet also facilitates the integration of everyone's plans into a consolidated view. Our research shows that dedicated planning applications can help users align their plans with strategy and the rest of the organization."

"While there are several enterprise performance management solutions for organizations to choose from, those that also support sophisticated modeling functionality are hard to come by," said Craig Schiff, President and CEO for BPM Partners. "We are glad to see that Host Analytics is committed to rapid evolution of their already well received offering in this area."

"Financial modeling is the next great strategic advantage in enterprise performance management: companies that have a shared and team-based capability to flexibly plan and forecast are better positioned to make timely business decisions," said Hyoun Park, Chief Research Officer for Blue Hill Research. "To maximize the value of financial modeling, business must combine all relevant enterprise data, all relevant analytical functions, and the ability for all relevant managers and operations analysts to access modeling results ubiquitously."

Gartner on Impact of Modeling Capabilities in CPM
New research by analyst firm Gartner points to a growing trend among financial leaders toward the use of modeling to improve financial and operational management. In that study, entitled "2015 Strategic Roadmap for Strategic Corporate Performance Management,"¹ analysts Christopher Iervolino, Nigel Rayner and John E. Van Decker wrote:

"Embedded advanced analytics will create new opportunities for more refined runtime modeling and 'war gaming' for creating and challenging strategy. Finance's use of models isn't new, as in other business areas, models enable organizations to better understand how things work, test and dispel assumptions and defend decisions and strengthen the decision-making process. More comprehensive corporate planning and modeling applications will enable users to model the impact of different cost and resource allocation strategies to help guide product and service offerings in packaging, bundling and pricing, as well as optimize channel strategies. With enhanced collaboration, performance, flexibility, ease of use and integration capabilities, they will leverage combined financial and operational data and domain collaboration to improve linkages between strategy and operational execution."

Executive Commentary
"Since launch in April, the customer response to Host Analytics Modeling Cloud has been phenomenal and we're excited to introduce this new set of capabilities that takes analytical functionality, mobile device accessibility, and operational data integration to the next level," said Dave Kellogg, CEO for Host Analytics. "Market demand for Modeling is red-hot because organizations recognize that, in today's data-driven environment, the ability to easily create financial and operational models that align with corporate plans and forecasts is imperative to making faster, better business decisions."

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About Host Analytics
Host Analytics is the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM), offering a suite of financial applications for modeling, planning, consolidation, reporting and analytics. World-class companies like NEC, Burlington Coat Factory and Sanmina trust Host Analytics to power their strategic financial systems. Host Analytics is a fast-growing, private company backed by leading venture capitalists and is headquartered in Silicon Valley with customers in over 90 countries.

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¹ Gartner, Inc. "2015 Strategic Roadmap for Strategic Corporate Performance Management" by Christopher Iervolino, Nigel Rayner, John E. Van Decker, August 21, 2015.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.