2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software

Anaplan has once again been recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software (FPS), marking our third consecutive year as a Leader in the space. This year, Anaplan was positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision, which we believe demonstrates our significant investment in innovation and our understanding of the market. As businesses navigate increasing uncertainty and complexity, the Anaplan platform empowers finance teams to adapt faster and drive more agile, strategic decision-making.

Navigating the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™

Gartner Inc. is a U.S. based research and advisory firm that publishes a Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software each year. The Magic Quadrant graphic depicts, "a market using a two-dimensional matrix that evaluates vendors based on their Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute." This visual representation and standardized evaluation criteria help you easily assess how well technology providers are executing their strategies and aligning with Gartner's market perspective.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant categorizes technology providers into four distinct segments, evaluated based on specific criteria. These segments are defined by Gartner as follows:

• Leaders: execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.
• Visionaries: understand where the market is going or have a vision for changing market rules, but do not yet execute well.
• Niche Players: focus successfully on a small segment or are unfocused and do not out-innovate or outperform others.
• Challengers: execute well today or may dominate a large segment, but do not demonstrate an understanding of market direction.
   

Source: Gartner (November 2024)

The Magic Quadrant plays a crucial role for businesses seeking a reliable, forward-thinking partner to help transform their financial planning and analysis (FP&A) processes.

The critical role of FP&A software in modern business

FP&A software has become essential for today’s finance leaders. In the face of constant market volatility and rapid technological change, businesses that leverage FP&A solutions gain the ability to forecast with greater precision, mitigate risks, and make data-driven decisions confidently. The ability to link financial plans with operational goals across the organization allows companies to align their strategies more effectively, ensuring that every department works towards shared objectives. As the demand for faster decision-making and agile planning grows, FP&A software plays a crucial role in maintaining organizational resilience and responsiveness.

Our innovations empower your finance teams everywhere

The Anaplan platform delivers a comprehensive approach to financial planning and analysis by connecting financial data and operational plans in real time. Our unified platform enables businesses to collaborate across functions, breaking down silos between finance, sales, supply chain, and HR teams. With integrated planning, businesses can better align goals, forecast more accurately, and drive greater organizational agility.

We also recognize the growing importance of AI in financial planning. Our AI-driven forecasting tool, PlanIQ, provides businesses with advanced predictive analytic features and the ability to harness vast amounts of internal and external data to improve forecasting accuracy. By offering transparency in predictive modeling with features like "explainability" and "impact scoring," Anaplan allows users to understand the drivers behind forecasts and how they influence business outcomes. We feel this level of insight is critical for finance leaders aiming to navigate uncertainty, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and guide the business in decision excellence.

Complementing this, our Polaris calculation engine enables organizations to model and analyze their businesses with precision, leveraging dimensionality and scalability to uncover critical insights. Moreover, our patented Hyperblock™ technology enables the rapid calculation of multiple scenarios, essential for industries that require flexibility and timely data-driven decision-making. This capability allows businesses to scale with ease and pivot quickly in response to market disruptions, ensuring that finance teams stay agile and well-prepared for any challenge.

As part of our commitment to innovation and delivering on our vision, we’ve announced a $500M multi-year investment to accelerate advancements in our platform. This investment underscores our focus on delivering cutting-edge tools that drive efficiency, reduce costs, and support smarter, data-backed decisions that position businesses to thrive amid change.

Ready to explore the future of financial planning?

We believe the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software provides valuable insights for businesses seeking to transform their FP&A processes. To learn more about why Anaplan was recognized as a Leader access your copy of the report below.