Customers

Solutions for the Technology Industry

The profitability of technology companies is driven by their ability to develop and market new products. Large and small companies are at the mercy of consumers' income and the prosperity of businesses. In the wake of the dot com boom, technology companies' financial and operational performance is under the microscope. Stakeholders demand visibility into corporate performance and require recurrent updates on the company's financial status.

To meet these demands, technology companies require a comprehensive, performance management solution that will allow them to manage expansion while not requiring a lot of administration or heavy IT investment. The ideal solution aligns with the corporate business model and unifies information across the organization, while making it available to both internal staff and external stakeholders for better, faster decision-making.

Why PROPHIX for Technology Companies

PROPHIX Performance Management solutions recognize technology companies' dynamic and high growth business environment by providing an alternative and better mechanism to managing the business compared to Excel spreadsheets. PROPHIX provides technology companies with the ability to manage the planning process while granting the ability to create and manage detailed business plans around, changing market conditions, diverse revenue streams, product profitability, rapid and real-time forecasting, resource management, research and development spending, cash flow analysis and driver-based planning. PROPHIX gives technology companies the insight to proactively manage the business while operating in an environment that grows and can change in an instant.

Technology organizations use PROPHIX Performance Management software and services for:

Managing market changes

• Control explosive growth by adopting a better mechanism than Excel spreadsheets for managing the financial planning process; unify data flowing across the organization for improved, precise decision-making
• Be in command of global expansion and international operations by generating consolidated views of the company for reporting and scenario planning purposes–incorporate foreign currency and alternate roll-ups
• Provide access to real time data with 24/7 access to reports over the web–making it much simpler to quickly spot problems and take corrective action immediately to improve results

Evaluating revenue streams

• Being highly dependent on business consumer spending, measure and compare the return of different revenue streams: software, services (support, professional services, technical expertise), and maintenance
• Let the client services department seize opportunities, anticipate trends, conduct predictive analysis, and provide better guidance to clients through advanced reporting and revenue analysis
• Create revenue scenarios and what-if plans to prepare for new revenue streams and adjustments that occur

Measuring product profitability

• Measure different product lines profitability and manage and plan for obsolete products with short sales windows
• Quantify the yields incurred over the product life cycles from alpha to beta to general release
• Identify product sales trends and customer buying patterns to better manage product mix

Informative scenario planning

• Generate multiple scenarios and what-if analysis for examining the benefit of acquiring new technology
• Maintain base plan and actual information while creating revealing scenarios based on potential M&A activity
• Manage external market forces and understand potential outcomes through frequent what-if analysis

Sustaining resource requirements

• Integrate personnel-level information for all key technology employees (service staff, customer support, sales managers, administrative support staff, programmers and developers)
• Manage and plan for teams of programmers and developers based on expertise required and project need
• Ensure training expenses are calculated by employee to understand the true costs of employee resources; the rapid pace of innovation requires up-to-date knowledge on a continual basis

Research & development (R&D) spending

• With research and development expenses often exceeding 10% of revenues, guarantee cash is available to develop new technology and improve mature products
• Analyze and manage patent costs to identify and obtain accurate product costs
• Accurately plan for personnel related costs associated with engineers, scientists and other R&D employees

Examining cash flow

• Better understand the effects of new product investment on cash flow
• Eliminate excessive external financing for new technology initiatives by projecting cash flow on a frequent basis
• Manage costs associated with ongoing and future projects by measuring cash flow more precisely

Driver based planning & reporting

• Analyze key business measures and performance indicators such as revenue per employee, service personnel utilization rates, and key financial indicators such as current ratio
• Measure current and past corporate performance against industry key performance measures
• Use key business drivers and formulas to develop sophisticated revenue and cost of goods sold plans

Technology Resource Center