DXC: Increasing the accuracy of financial forecasts with a unified planning solution
Explore DXC’s journey with SAP
An accurate financial forecast is key to helping IT consulting firm DXC Technology Company ensure it has the resources needed to deliver outstanding service levels. To enable more-effective planning and remove complexity in the forecasting process, the company replaced multiple solutions with the SAP Analytics Cloud solution for planning.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Professional services | Ashburn, Virginia | 130,000 employees | Analysis Prime Inc. |
less time to create financial forecasts.
forecasting tools replaced by one unified planning solution.
Reporting Lead, Finance Systems and Processes, DXC Technology Company
Supporting mission-critical IT projects around the world
By using transformative technologies to innovate processes and modernize operations, IT services firm DXC Technology Company helps companies reach new levels of performance, competitiveness, and customer experience. From business process outsourcing, analytics, and application design to IT outsourcing and cloud security, the firm’s consultants work on mission-critical projects ranging in duration from two months to 10 years, across more than 70 countries.
Running such a diverse mix of short-term and long-term projects requires effective planning if DXC is to deliver the right project expertise to customers in a timely way. And financial forecasts play a key role in helping planners meet project commitments by ensuring they have the right resources in the right place at the right time.
However, a fragmented process involving 12 different planning tools made the creation of financial forecasts complex and time consuming, without providing the level of detail and transparency required to help planners make informed resourcing decisions. To address this, the company decided to streamline its forecasting by implementing a single unified planning solution.
Making forecasting simpler with an intuitive user experience
DXC needed to find a new forecasting solution that was robust enough to handle the needs of a large global enterprise. Another priority was connectivity to the existing SAP software landscape, which includes multiple instances of the SAP ERP application as well as third-party CRM software. In addition, the company wanted to find a solution with an intuitive user experience, enabling its planners to get up and running quickly.
SAP Analytics Cloud for planning delivered on all these points. In addition, DXC opted to deploy the add-in for Microsoft Office for SAP Analytics Cloud, enabling planners to analyze datasets in Microsoft Excel using the features they are used to, such as filtering, sorting, and formulas.
DXC turned to SAP partner Analysis Prime Inc. for help with the implementation. The SAP partner supported the company throughout the deployment, helping ensure a smooth transition. In addition, Analysis Prime trained internal IT personnel on how to run and configure SAP Analytics Cloud for planning to help them prepare to meet future needs.
Preparing effectively for new challenges with agile forecasting
Using the planning capabilities in SAP Analytics Cloud, DXC has streamlined forecasting processes, cutting the time required for forecast generation from 14 to 7 days. This means that the planning team can work faster to create new forecasts in response to changing market conditions, helping DXC proactively prepare to meet new challenges in an agile way.
What’s more, as well as accessing forecasting information faster, the planning team now has a more granular view of the figures, giving them an in-depth understanding of the overall financial picture. For example, integration with the company’s CRM solution means that planners can drill down on forecast figures to access information about a specific customer project and the costs involved.
In addition, by replacing its previous 12 planning solutions with SAP Analytics Cloud for planning, DXC has significantly simplified its IT footprint. This has resulted in lower IT costs and reduced systems administration efforts.
Streamlining and refining enterprise-wide reporting
DXC now plans to deploy the data analyzer functionality in the SAP Analytics Cloud solution to enable planners to carry out ad hoc queries on financial forecasts, providing additional flexibility to respond quickly to changing business conditions. In addition, the IT consultancy is considering using the predictive analytics functionality in SAP Analytics Cloud to analyze historical data, enabling planners to further refine their forecasts.
The company is also looking at using the planning capabilities in SAP Analytics Cloud to help manage sales forecast and workforce planning, as well as migrating other areas of its enterprise-wide reporting to the solution. And with automatic updates providing access to new capabilities in SAP Analytics Cloud each quarter, DXC can maximize the value gained from the solution by deploying the latest innovative technologies across its planning processes.
Featured partner
Analysis Prime Inc. helps its customers take advantage of modern planning and analytics capabilities to achieve their business goals. Offering world-class expertise, content, and packaged solutions in analytics and performance management, the SAP partner enables companies to maximize the value of investments in people, processes, and systems.