Differences Between EPM and CPM Software
The terms Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) are often used interchangeably. These two forms of performance management software help businesses manage their resources and stay on track with their financial goals. Many argue that when you’re running a large organization, you need both EPM and CPM. Some solutions like Solver and Anaplan, combines functionality from both categories into a single solution.
There are two important differences between CPM and EPM:
CPM focuses specifically on providing a corporate-wide application of performance management, primarily for the organization’s finance department.
EPM focuses more broadly on the performance of the entire enterprise, extending beyond the finance departments to sales, marketing, supply chain and more.
If you’re comparing CPM vs. EPM, the choice may seem arbitrary given the similarities. While there is crossover between the functions of CPM and EPM software, CPM takes more of a financial focus, whereas EPM focuses more holistically on the performance factors of the entire organization.
What Is CPM Software?
CPM covers the following basic business processes:
Consolidation: Close management and consolidation of an organization’s finances. Planning: Major areas of financial planning, including budgeting and forecasting. Analytics and reporting: Gathering and reporting data from all applicable areas in an organization.
CPM software’s ultimate goal is to help organizations strategize and execute informed plans to reach their financial goals. In this way, EPM software and CPM software are alike. The primary distinguishing factor is that CPM offers advanced applications designed to drive the organization’s goal of increasing profits for itself and its shareholders.
With CPM’s more financially focused approach to managing a business’s performance, organizations can more efficiently track financial progress and perform tasks related to strategic financial planning. CPM enables business leaders to make more informed, data-based decisions to reach their organization’s financial goals and objectives.
Uses of CPM Software
CPM software is best used for performance management in the following scenarios:
Specialized performance management processes: With CPM software, you can apply more specialized performance management tactics to your financial planning strategies. CPM software is designed to focus specifically on driving a business’s financial goals and increasing shareholders’ profits.
Financial performance data management: CPM software tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) like an organization’s operational costs and other expenditures, revenue, return on investment (ROI) and other applicable data sources. With CPM software, accessing and analyzing an organization’s financial performance is easier than ever.
In-depth analytics: CPM software allows business leaders and financial departments to accurately analyze past and current data to make more informed decisions about the direction of their organization. Detailed analytic information is key in financial strategy and planning, and CPM software consolidates financial data into one easily accessible place.
Convenient and efficient financial management: With all of your financial data in a central location, managing your business’s financial performance can be done with extreme precision and efficiency with CPM software.
What Is EPM Software?
EPM software performs many of the same functions as CPM software. The primary difference is that while CPM hones in on a business’s financial data and management, EPM takes a broader look at multiple line-of-business operations and analyzes KPIs from each.
Many organizations prefer EPM’s more holistic approach to performance management across the enterprise compared to CPM. For many businesses, all departments play an equally important role in determining the organization’s financial outcomes. While CPM focuses on one area of the entire enterprise (namely finance), EPM considers every applicable department in the processes of consolidation, planning, reporting and analytics.
Uses of EPM Software
Many companies use EPM and CPM software interchangeably. Focusing on EPM’s unique advantages for your organization alongside a CPM system can be a worthwhile investment, especially if you have a particularly large organization.
EPM software is best used for the following processes:
A broad look at enterprise performance: EPM software’s purpose is to manage all performance factors across an enterprise, not just the finance department. EPM is a useful tool to provide business leaders with a clear picture of how different parts of the enterprise are performing individually and working together.
A bird’s eye view of business analytics: EPM software looks at analytics from virtually every part of an enterprise and tracks the KPIs of multiple departments at once. With EPM, you get a summary of your entire company’s performance due to advanced analytics technology.
Large-scale planning: With EPM, budgeting, forecasting and related planning activities are much more efficient and scalable. Creating annual operating plans is easy with the right EPM software on your side.
Versatile applications: While CPM software caters to the structure of corporate organizations, EPM software can be used for a wide range of non-corporate organizations as well. EPM can easily accommodate the performance management and planning needs of organizations in the government, education, non-profit and other sectors.
Saved time and energy: As with CPM, EPM software saves organizations time, energy and money when properly applied to business processes. With the ability to capture company data automatically from multiple departments at once and consolidate it into a central hub, employees no longer need to spend hours performing these processes manually.
EPM software’s broad organizational focus includes monitoring financial performance, but it does not focus exclusively on finance, as does CPM software. Individual software systems vary in the benefits they offer, and organizations should weigh their options carefully before committing to an EPM or CPM system.
Learn More About Solver Corporate Performance Management Software
EPM and CPM software offer many advantages to executives and financial managers looking to maximize decision-making capabilities in a competitive marketplace. Solver is an easy-to-use and innovative CPM solution that is built for the ever-changing demands of growth-focused companies. Using a single, cloud-based solution, Solver automates reporting, consolidations, forecasting and budgeting processes for complete insight into your business.
At Solver, we can help you decide what your business needs based on your current metrics and financial goals. Submit a sales inquiry or request a demo, and a member of our expert team will reach out to you shortly.
