Sage has announced the launch of Sage Intacct Planning in the UK. Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning (SIBP) was first launched in the US in September 2018 following the acquisition of Budgeta. Since then, it has rolled out the solution to Canada, South Africa and Australia. The latter two were announced as part of the globalisation features within Sage Intacct 2023 R1.
What is Sage Intacct Planning and Budgeting?
The solution is an easy-to-use and powerful cloud-based business planning solution that eliminates the need for spreadsheets during the planning and forecasting process. It enables colleagues to collaborate across the organisation during the process and draws the financial figures from the primary accounting source in the business, Sage Intacct.
Importantly it also allows users to use a formula similar to those found within Excel. It brings familiarity with the product alongside the additional control. For example, users can add formulas to control allocation percentages, all within Sage Intacct.
All users view the same version, eliminating the risk posed by multiple spreadsheets stored locally.
SIBP takes budgeting to a new level with support for driver-based models, what-if scenarios, and rolling forecasts. Users can share with a colleague across the business, with varying levels of access control, for review or editing. In view-only mode, other users do not need a license for planning. However, as Sage improves security controls, this may change.
André Lafayette, VP of Planning Product Management at Sage, commented, “SMBs are operating in a fast-changing world, so simplifying their work and freeing them up to focus on what really matters to their business is key. With this solution, customers can create highly detailed and comprehensive financial plans that take into account a range of scenarios and variables, allowing them to better prepare for the future and adapt to evolving market conditions.
“We’re thrilled to be launching Sage Intacct Planning in the UK, putting Finance in the driver’s seat to help organisations achieve their goals through more effective planning and budgeting.”
SIBP brings an additional license cost, but pricing is unavailable on the Sage Website, and interested customers should contact their Account Manager or partner.
SIBP capabilities
Sage shared a summary of the capabilities within the press release. Oddly, there is little further information on the SIBP product page or the Sage Intacct Marketplace entry. The entry for the marketplace needs updating. As of writing, the only country it appears to be approved for use in is the United States.
The capabilities listed by Sage include the following:
- Integration with Sage Intacct Core Accounting allows customers to seamlessly use their existing General Ledger accounts to manage actuals, budgets, and forecasts. According to the Marketplace entry, Sage Intacct Core Financials is a prerequisite for SIBP.
- Intelligent Planning Wizard enables customers using ERP systems other than Sage Intacct Accounting to easily import and map data and dimensions from any ERP or General Ledger system.
- ‘What-if’ scenario modelling enables the evaluation of multiple options and variables simultaneously to confidently choose the best path forward. Users can create unlimited scenarios and can merge a scenario with the current budget if desired.
- Multi-currency planning and reporting provides seamless collaboration with budget owners in every location.
- Advanced modelling facilitates the building of flexible budgets tailored to the organisation
- Rolling forecasts make it easy to modify plans and pivot as business conditions change
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Promised as part of the Sage Intacct 2023 R1 release in H1, Sage has exceeded expectations with this availability for the UK. The next step with the Intacct team is when they will make it available within France.
At Transform 22, it revealed that Sage Intacct now has a French version and would be rolled out before the end of 2022. Sage Intacct is now available for early adopters in France. It is unknown when it will become generally available in the country, and it is not listed as a product on the Sage site. It will be interesting to see how quickly SIBP is brought to the French market.
One question is, why was SIBP not made available sooner? It is a strong add-on for Sage Intacct and will surely help in what is a competitive market. That it is now available should please existing channel partners, and it will strengthen the positioning for the solution. Sage is striving to ensure that its solutions are developed for all of its markets. As an acquisition, it may have meant localisations took a little longer to complete as they needed retrofitting.
