Forecasting software ranges in cost enormously, from basic excel sheets up to highly complex enterprise software. At Reflex Planning, we provide a mid-market solution which provides excellent value and has helped many well-known brands transform their forecasting.
When looking at the cost of forecasting software, the first point to consider is the return on investment you will get by reducing wasted stock, increasing sales, and helping your planning team become more efficient. As part of your research process, we can help you create a business case which includes a return on investment calculation.
Typically, the cost of commercial forecasting software is determined by many factors, including the size of the business, the number of users, the complexity of processes and the level and timescale of ongoing support.
Users & Capabilities
The complexity of your business can also affect the price – in terms of the number of SKUs, number of users, the number of locations and the nature of the products. A very simple and straightforward business will be a much quicker process to implement so it will cost less as it simply takes less time to install and configure and there will be fewer people to train. More complexity means more features are required, integrations with other business software, more processing and reporting is needed – and this all means you may need a higher end solution.
The Cost Of Using Low Cost/Free Software
Many companies rely on free/low cost spreadsheet-based software like Excel for their forecasting. However, this comes with many risks, limitations and problems. Using Excel opens up numerous holes that are easy to fall into; large amounts of data can be hard to track, multiple users accessing the same program eliminates accountability, and the data is not secure. The risk of data loss is high, and the costs associated with this could be huge.
The High End Of The Market
At the other end of the market, you have forecasting software designed for large international corporations (for example SAP). At this end, your investment is significant, making it harder to get a return on investment and often meaning you pay for features and complexity which you don’t need.
Reflex Planning
Reflex Planning provide simple but effective forecasting software for companies that need a robust forecasting solution in a cost-effective way. We believe this is a sweet spot for many companies that need a professional forecasting tool that goes beyond excel spreadsheets – but where investing £50-250k every year for a high end and overly complex solution is not an option.
It is important to us that you get a return on investment from forecasting – so once you’ve had an initial demonstration of our software, we’ll plan what you need and help prepare a business case and return on investment calculation for you, so that forecasting software makes money rather than costing money for your business.
Why Invest In Business Forecasting Software?
Business forecasting software is increasingly viewed as an essential operational tool to predict future economic conditions based on accurate historical and current data. Creating an accurate forecast is needed to direct future operational management decisions and to boost revenue, income, and future-proof the sustainable development of a company. The benefits of investing in forecasting software swiftly outstrip the costs involved and deliver a positive ROI, alongside better growth opportunities.
Contact Reflex for more information about our pricing strategy and how you can make the most out of our software solutions tailored to your industry.
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