Analyst Archive 2010-2009

2010

Integrating Strategic Planning With Jonova
November 2010, by Robert Kugel, Ventana Research
I’ve focused attention of integrated business planning for the past several years as our benchmark research on business planning and other related topics consistently finds companies are not getting enough of a return on the considerable amount of time and effort they spend on budgeting and planning. Moreover, the current economic climate makes substantive contingency planning more important than ever. Our research finds that there is a great deal of planning going on. Most managers and executives participate in multiple planning exercises, although these are focused on their own business silo and do not have a firm, ongoing connection with other plans…

Sustainable Business Systems, Part 3: Differentiating Sustainable Solutions by Functional Domain
October 2010, by Stephen Stokes, Gartner Group
Research: Maximized sustainable corporate performance requires not just information enabled business process but clear linkages between key sustainable business functions and related value-adding activities.

Solutions for Profitability Modeling and Optimization Prove to Be Strategic for Finance Groups
October 2010, by Neil Chandler, Gartner Group
Jonova combines enterprise wide planning, PM&O (driver- and activity- … to support overhead cost planning and profitability analysis. Jonova enables the rapid construction of models to support … Large European and U.S. enterprises should consider Jonova, particularly if they have complex organizational structures and …

Hype Cycle for Performance Management, 2010
June 2011, by Nigel Rayner, Gartner Group
Research: Performance management is an area of increasing focus across many functions, domains and software markets. This Hype Cycle analyzes the maturity of performance management disciplines and the analytic applications that support performance management.

Integrated Business Planning using Jonova
August 2010, by Robert Kugel, Gartner Group
Using the wrong software is one reason why companies have a hard time doing contingency planning in an integrated enterprise framework. One of the vendors offering software explicitly for integrated planning is Jonova…. The company’s Explorer Software Suite is designed to enable companies to quickly do detailed scenario planning in order to understand both the operational and financial consequences of various assumptions and conditions. It supports driver based planning, a necessary capability for quickly understanding the consequences of changes to volumes, configurations and prices. As such, companies are better able to determine, for example, the impact on margins and cash flow from different set of changes to a plan in order to optimize a trade-off between profitability and market share. It has built-in dashboards, charts and graphs but can be adapted to any existing software a company may have for this purpose.

Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Management, 2010
August 2010, by Tim Payne, Gartner Group
Research: During 2009 and into 2010, SCM focus remained on cost, but supporting competitive advantage and/or revenue growth is scaling up the executive SCM agenda. Hype is focused on capabilities that support an organization’s journey toward the higher stages of a demand-driven value network.

Hype Cycle for Pattern-Based Strategy, 2010
August 2010, by Yvonne Genovese, Gartner Group
Research: In this first edition of the Hype Cycle for Pattern-Based Strategy, we review the cultural disciplines and technologies that support the implementation of a Pattern-Based Strategy.

Market Trends: Business Intelligence, Worldwide, 2011-2014
August 2010, by Gareth Herschel, Gartner Group
Research: Stack centricity, business-focused buying and an increase in the number of people using business intelligence software are the major themes shaping the market until 2014.

Solutions for Profitability Modeling and Optimization Prove to Be Strategic for Finance Groups
April 2010, by Neil Chandler, Gartner Group
Research: Analytics and Emerging Technologies.

2009

Supply Chain Management Market and Vendor Guide, 2009
December 2009, by Tim Payne, Gartner
“The poor global economic climate is exerting pressure on supply chain management professionals to focus efforts and investments on initiatives aimed at reducing (or ideally optimizing) costs and improving customer service” Jonova delivers Integrated Business Planning and S&OP.

Performance Management Applications
November 2009 by Nigel Rayner, Gartner
“Performance management applications, such as those offered by Jonova, can help business users (including C-level executives) better understand, manage and optimize the performance of their business operations, while better aligning with corporate strategy. They offer significant potential benefits.”

MarketScope for S&OP
October 2009, by Tim Payne, Gartner
“Enterprises looking for strong modeling capabilities or more financial impact analysis in their S&OP processes and IBP processes should consider Jonova. The Jonova product is a flexible modeling and reporting environment that can mimic the complexities of real-world business processes and allows for the development of multiple scenarios, each evaluated with strong financial acuity and performance management capabilities. This makes it particularly relevant for longer-term planning, within the context of integrating operational, strategic and financial plans, but it always does a good job of evaluating what-ifs for shorter-term horizons. Jonova is also a good platform for evaluating supply chain risk.”

Want to Lower Your Inventory Levels? Ask the Right Questions and Start With Demand Forecasting
October 2009, by Wayne McDonnell, AMR Research
“How can I decrease my company’s inventory? Many life sciences clients ask us this question at some point during the year, typically as heads of supply chain or operations attempt to make progress on challenging annual objectives. Most CFOs aren’t satisfied with their company’s inventory performance, and who can blame them? Applications from companies like Jonova can help your company optimize network decisions and their impact on end-to-end inventory management.”

Plan and Budget with More People More Often
September 2009 by Ventana Research
Most people see planning and budgeting as a function of the finance organization. But we recommend that companies structure it for broader participation, so that all people who have budget authority become meaningful contributors. When this is the case, more buy-in and accountability result: It stops being “finance’s budget” and becomes everyone’s budget. In addition, linking this process to the company’s objectives and strategy makes it possible to control costs more effectively, which will increase operating efficiency. We also advise that planning and budgeting be done more often than once a year, so that the company can respond faster as conditions change. When this is the case, management and executives are more likely to be able to understand the implications of changes, weigh their options more intelligently and respond appropriately.

Hype Cycle for ERP
September 2009, by Tim Payne and Andrew White, Gartner

Integrated Business Planning
“IBP like those offered by Jonova is a set of processes and competencies that provides a performance management environment that supports the strategic alignment and modeling capability missing from the traditional operationally focused sales and operations planning (S&OP) processes for the supply chain. IBP links corporate performance management to operational S&OP, with the capability for strategic and financial modeling and analytics, enabled by approaches such as supply chain performance management. By embedding analytics so closely in the business process, as Jonova does, performance management is more readily realized.”

Product Performance Management
”Jonova product performance management provides a unified environment linking strategic analysis related to product performance (at the highest level of the enterprise) with operational and day-to-day activities. By more formally making business decisions that relate to product performance, and by operationalizing and integrating them, an enterprise can make competitive decisions more quickly, and execute and retune those plans more effectively than the competition.”

S&OP AXIS Report
September 2009, by Nari Viswanathan, Aberdeen Research
“ There are solution providers who merit a mention in this document due their unique capabilities with respect to enabling the S&OP process. Jonova’s solutions allow companies to model their business in terms of supply, demand, product and finance to optimize their S&OP and other strategic plans holistically.”

Hype Cycle for Analytical Applications
August 2009, by Andrew White, Gartner
Product Portfolio Optimization
“Product portfolio optimization is a proven technology that is being applied to a new problem. With the right data, right processes and right organization, this technology can provide immediate benefits to the business.”

Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Management
July 2009, by Tim Payne and Andrew White, Gartner

Integrated Business Planning
“IBP is developing as a separate and distinct layer of capability that sits over an operational S&OP process, and that is linked to a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution as part of a wider performance management initiative. IBP such as what is offered by Jonova, is developing to embrace strategic and financial modeling and reconciliation capabilities that leverage the operational planning and S&OP processes, and that link into the organization’s CPM initiatives.”

Product Portfolio Optimization
“Product portfolio optimization is a new analytic application offered by companies such as Jonova, that supports the business goal of enhancing Product Performance Management. It represents the use of known technology capability, (modeling, optimization, simulation and analysis), to solve different business problems. Users who struggle with making effective decisions at the strategic level, and determining how to re-evaluate such strategic decisions on a timely base, should look into this emerging technology.”

Product Performance Management
Jonova delivers product performance management “that addresses the business problem that executives face: to determine, methodically, which markets to sell to and which products to sell by simulating and optimizing alternative business plans, taking into account market conditions, competitive dynamics and potential profitability. Analytics and key performance indicators, specific to the product domain and appropriate for each industry, are embedded in the business application that is used to make and take the business decision.”

Jonova conducts or commissions research on topics relevant to our customers:

Integrated Business Planning Is Needed
July 2009, Robert Kugel
Jonova commissioned Ventana Research to execute extensive benchmark research designed to gauge the maturity of planning in organizations. The research findings demonstrate the importance of data to the overall effectiveness of IBP. Companies that are able to provide the right information at the right time to the right people are able to plan more effectively. They have more accurate plans, have greater agility in adapting to change and are better able to align the actions of all departments and functions with each other and with the corporation’s strategy. To learn more, contact info@jonova.com.

In addition, there is valuable research available that covers critical topics:

Hype Cycle for BI and Performance Management
July 2009, by Tim Payne and Andrew White, Gartner

Integrated Business Planning
“IBP, such as what is offered by Jonova, links corporate performance management to operational S&OP, with the capability for strategic and financial modeling and analytics.”

Product Portfolio Optimization
“The problem of determining what markets to address and with what products and/or services, and the evaluation of market and product profitability at the strategic level, has been central to how firms operate. Despite the importance of this problem, most firms use reports and manual procedures to make such strategic decisions; and the output of such decisions is often disconnected from tactical and operational business activities. Product portfolio optimization, like the solution offered by Jonova, supports the business goal of enhancing product performance management.”

Product Performance Management
“Traditionally, performance of the product as it moves through the chain is measured in fragmented process (horizontal and functional perspective) and departmental (vertical perspective) silos. Business leaders are looking to move beyond this fragmented view that restricts the ability to measure and optimize business performance holistically, toward an enterprise wide, process-centric analytic application, to answer business decisions that are not supported by business intelligence technology. This is leading to new solutions, like those offered by Jonova, to address the links between strategy and operations.”

Supply Chain Risk Management Needs are Shaping a Budding Technology Market
July 2009, by Noha Tohamy, AMR Research
“If you’re a supply chain executive, you’re thinking risk-or at least you should be. The reasons for the topic’s eminence are well understood. The strategies to make sure risk is managed in your supply chain are varied and burgeoning. With modeling becoming a more powerful mitigation strategy, companies like Jonova provide what-if analysis and scenario management that can identify and mitigate supply chain risk.”

Positioning Your Supply Chain for the Future
June 2009, by Paul Lord and Jane Barrett, AMR Research
Leading industrial supply chains of the future will be valued business partners that quickly respond to strategic risks and opportunities, leverage technology and information to design the optimal supply response, and execute change flawlessly. Simulation and modeling are essential to support strategic decisions. Companies like Jonova, have made progress in this area.”

Expect the Unexpected: Design Product Platforms that Support Agility
May 2009, by Michael Burkett, AMR Research
“Market variability is difficult to predict, and recent government actions just add to this uncertainty. The winds are shifting toward increased product regulations to meet environmental goals, but consumer preferences don’t always align, which creates a design challenge for manufacturers. To adapt, many are creating product platforms that provide the agility to add new features based on emerging market trends and regulations, but also to let the supply chain flex easily to shifting consumer preferences. Sony Ericsson, which uses Jonova’s scenario analysis application to study the impact of design, is also building the business case for increased platform and part reuse in product development.”

High Tech Networks Evolving to Deliver Cash
May 2009, by CJ Wehlage, AMR Research
“Recessionary impacts, product complexity, emerging markets, and multiple global partners have created a unique opportunity for high-tech manufacturing to reshape its value. Now is the time for high-tech supply chains to provide cash and restore credibility with shareholders. Long-term gross margin and asset velocity are the driving metrics. Decisions are made on global growth/reduction, strategic partnering, and total cost of ownership.For these decisions, products from companies like Jonova, are used to view and optimize the network.”

Jonova: Creating the Next Wave of Integrated Business Planning Software
April 2009, by Bruce Richardson, AMR Research
“Last October we created the Software Innovators From A to Z Series to highlight some of the smaller companies that are building interesting products. Jonova is one of those companies, but the Jonova story doesn’t exactly tell itself. That’s because there are endless potential uses. While I interviewed customers that were using it for supply-chain-related applications, there are others that use it to simulate changes in product and portfolio management, sales and marketing, service and support, and finance.”

Q&A Approaches to Implement Profitability and Cost Optimization
April 2009, by Neil Chandler, Gartner
“Profitability and modeling optimization is used to obtain a more complete and accurate understanding of the true causes of cost and drivers of profitability in an organization. Unlike early ABC-/ABM-based implementations that often failed to deliver business benefits, more recent solutions, like Jonova’s, provide a modeling environment to reflect the multidimensional nature of cost and revenue models, a rule/calculation engine capable of handling higher level scenario planning and what-if calculations and integration with strategy management and budgeting, planning and forecasting applications.”

B2B Channel Management in a Down Economy
February 2009, by Tim Harmon, Forrester
“Vendors are responding to the economic slowdown with a wide range of channel management and channel marketing initiatives. Economic conditions dictate new approaches, in particular rethinking channel performance management and channel model innovation.”

A Go-To-Market Prescription For Economic Maladies
January 2009, by Tim Harmon, Forrester
“During an economic downturn, all companies exhibit conservative technology buying patterns, not just small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). Consequently, many go-to-market models built for SMB tech buyers now apply to larger enterprises as well.”