Adaptive Planning Introduces Breakthrough Benchmarking Initiative

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - June 29, 2009) - Adaptive Planning, the leading provider of on-demand planning and reporting solutions for companies of all sizes, today announced a groundbreaking new initiative that gives companies access to previously unavailable benchmarking information. Consisting of two new offerings, a Client Benchmarking Service and an Industry Trends module, the new initiative will not only allow finance organizations to compare their company's historical performance against industry metrics, but also provide an aggregate view of their peers' future performance expectations and plans. These valuable insights will help companies improve their financial and operational management, create more informed plans and forecasts, and ultimately enhance their overall competitiveness.

For years, managers in companies of all sizes have been keenly interested in using benchmarking information to drive improvements in their businesses. However, good benchmarking data is challenging to find -- it is typically limited to information about public entities or companies within industry associations -- and is limited in scope, focusing on historical information.

As a result, many benchmarking efforts are still under-developed. A recent poll of finance professionals conducted by the BPM Forum and Adaptive Planning found that the majority of finance organizations do not formally benchmark their company's performance. And the survey also revealed a thirst for forward-looking information, with 78 percent of respondents expressing interest in understanding how their peers are planning and forecasting key performance measures.

Adaptive Planning is addressing these unmet needs with two new offerings. The Client Benchmarking Service provides both backward- and forward-looking financial and operational metrics information for clients that opt-in to the program. Delivered as a quarterly report, the service will not only allow companies to understand how their actual profitability, productivity, and other metrics relate to their peers', but will also provide visibility into how their future forecasts and plans compare.

Of particular value will be the leading indicators that can be derived from analyzing changes to forward-looking metrics. For example, as the year unfolds participants will be able to understand, in aggregate, how their peers are revising their 2010 revenue and expense plans -- whether others are becoming more optimistic or pessimistic about the direction of the economy -- and will be able to incorporate those perspectives into their own forecasts and plans.

The Client Benchmarking Service will start with a pilot for software clients and will be expanded to other industries over time. The identities and data of participating companies will be kept completely confidential.

In addition, Adaptive Planning is debuting a new Industry Trends module as part of its Financial Best Practices Community. Available in July, this module will allow Adaptive Planning customers and other members of its online community to explore historical trends in the financial metrics of their peer group, based on industry, company size, and geography. The module contains five years of data for over 10,000 midsized companies across all industries in the U.S.

"By providing a consensus view of companies' forecasts -- and by using their real financial plans instead of relying upon survey responses -- Adaptive Planning has the opportunity to create an entirely new perspective on current economic conditions and business confidence," said Professor Jerome S. Engel, Faculty Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a member of Adaptive Planning's board of directors. "The leading indicators made possible by this initiative have the potential to provide powerful insights that will allow companies to better anticipate future events and act with greater agility."

"As a provider of on-demand planning and reporting software, we are uniquely positioned to create and deliver innovative benchmarking information to our clients," said William A. Soward, CEO of Adaptive Planning. "Unlike on-premise solution providers, our on-demand data center contains valuable financial and operational data for hundreds of clients. By working with our customers on a voluntary, opt-in basis, we are able to deliver a truly insightful new source of information, fundamentally re-defining the value that can be delivered by business performance management software."

About Adaptive Planning

Adaptive Planning is the worldwide leader in on-demand financial planning and reporting solutions that improve operational efficiency, strengthen companywide collaboration, and drive better business decisions in companies of all sizes. Adaptive Planning makes it easy to move beyond spreadsheets and automate budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and "what-if" analysis, without the cost and complexity associated with traditional business intelligence and BPM software. With free software, free trials, and both on-demand and on-premise deployment options, Adaptive Planning is the fastest and easiest way for finance organizations to enhance their agility and strategic value. Adaptive Planning is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. and can be reached at 650-528-7500 or www.adaptiveplanning.com.

Contact Information: Media Contacts: Derek Kober GlobalFluency 650-433-4233 Greg Schneider Adaptive Planning 650-810-0525