Quantrix was acquired by IDBS to provide an integrated business intelligence and modelling solutions to their global customer base. IDBS the leading provider of innovative data management and analytics solutions enhances portfolio with advanced business modeling and analytics solutions from Quantrix. IDBS, the leading worldwide provider of data management and analytics solutions to R&D and healthcare organizations, announced that it has concluded an agreement to acquire Quantrix, an award-winning company that provides business modeling and analytics software and services. As part of the acquisition, Quantrix will continue to operate as an independent business and enable organizations to replace their spreadsheets for improved business performance and timely insights.
Quantrix technology is licensed for use within one of IDBS' leading products, E-WorkBook Suite, the industry leading scientific electronic laboratory notebook. Already Quantrix has customers across 50 countries in markets including financial services, manufacturing and engineering. The acquisition is a strategic step forward for Quantrix and IDBS in the longstanding relationship between the companies. Quantrix sets the standard for business modeling & analytics.
Quantrix is single solution for all of an organization’s multi-dimensional modeling & analytics needs - from forecasting, budgeting, and strategic planning to financial modeling, risk modeling, data modeling, visual analytics and more. "We are pleased to be able to welcome Quantrix into the IDBS group," says Neil Kipling, founder and CEO of IDBS. "This transaction allows us to accelerate the introduction of advanced modeling and analytics tools into our solutions for high value areas in pharmaceutical and healthcare informatics, such as translational medicine and preclinical development. IDBS also recognizes the value of Quantrix technology for a broad range of vertical markets, such as financial services, engineering and manufacturing and will continue to invest in its ongoing development and commercialization."
Quantrix delivers rapid return on investment by empowering business and financial professionals to break away from restrictive two-dimensional spreadsheets and complicated modeling and business intelligence tools. If you have yet to see
Quantrix for yourself take advantage of our free trail of Quantrix
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Quantrix’s unprecedented business intelligence and improved business performance management for yourself.
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Quantrix empowers organizations to reach unprecedented levels of business insight and advantage but what are the advantages and disadvantages by moving to financial modelling software. One of the disadvantages of switching off of excel spreadsheets is overcoming inertia -- everyone has grown up with spreadsheets, they are relatively simple to use, and they are ubiquitous within an organization. We have found that there is resistance to any change in an organization, and replacing spreadsheets is no different. In addition to overcoming the cultural issues, you need to change your approach to problem solving. With spreadsheets, you can dive right in. However with modeling tools, business users need to step back, and think through the problem more structurally before they start setting it up. Although, changing the thinking process up front might actually be considered more of a positive from a business perspective! Quantrix changes the mindset from solving technical issues into solving business challenges.
Quantrix sets the standard for business modeling & analytics and among the top benefits of making the change to modeling tools is that you can have your smart people focused on business problems, not Excel spreadsheet problems. You can’t underestimate the value of that. With Quantrix modeling tools, you can create more robust decision models that enable your company to make better decisions, faster. You can have a seamless, direct, and dynamic connection with the data in your enterprise, which enables you to build analysis based on current data. If you compare Quantrix against spreadsheets, it’s far too easy for users to go off on tangents and create a mess of disconnected worksheets and analyses.
Quantrix is designed specifically for the business user and reduces the difficulty of making the switch on the user. We’ve found that people who have experience working with both databases and spreadsheets tend to find it easier to make the leap to modeling tools. People do need to be able to think abstractly. And attitude certainly helps -- if you feel that you could never give up your spreadsheets, chances are you probably won’t. We find that some people “get it” within moments, and others require more training. But the motivational factor is that once users realize that they get to spend more of their time focusing on solving problems rather than manipulating or fixing their spreadsheets, they have a breakthrough. Quantrix Modeling tools enable people to free up their intellectual capacity.
To find out more read about the difference between Quantrix and Excel.
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Quantrix greatest benefit is the ability to assist any business decision making, this does just not happen by accident. There are three important components that every business needs to intersect in a good decision-making model. The first is business intelligence, which is useful analytics of internal enterprise data. The second is external market data, including competitive and economic information. The final is domain knowledge, which includes information your in-house experts have about your business and your future plans. Quantrix and Business Intelligence is about putting these components together for the benefit of your business. Business intelligence is important, but it needs to be combined with the other two elements for successful business modeling. Quantrix not only brings these three elements together but also allows you to create visualizations and dashboards built around your date.
Quantrix differentiates in that you can then create forward-focused models from that historic analysis. The structure of your Business Intelligence analytics often matches the structure of your decision-making process. For example, in a structured model, you will connect your internal data on products, business groups, and sales with the external business drivers and business knowledge into an analytic process. A structured modeling environment such as Quantrix enables companies to feed their historical business intelligence directly into an intelligent decision making model that enables them to factor in information such as what new products you plan to introduce, and external market factors. Information on sales history during the past 10 years is important, but is not enough to develop a sales forecast for next year. So business intelligence is an important piece, but ultimately it is only once piece of the puzzle and Quantrix is able to provide the other missing pieces.
Quantrix provides a dynamic connection to enterprise data. Time is wasted when business professionals need to re-query the enterprise database and re-populate a model every time they need updated information. For most BI tools, the analysis is the "end of the road". They are not adding value or additional context to the data. You can get very good insights, view trends and exceptions, but then you still would likely create your budget, plan, “what ifs” and other models in spreadsheets. As we know from the economic crisis, historic patterns don't always predict future activity. To quote Warren Buffet, "If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians." So are you looking forward, clients that use Quantrix are.
Why not start to see the future with a Free Trial of Quantrix-Quantrix 30 day download for your company.
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Quantrix knows that excel spreadsheets are readily available, but are they the best tool available for creating forward-looking business models such as forecasts, budgets, and strategic plans whne compared against Quantrix? MXI hopes to explain the key difference between spreadsheet and Quantrix modeling tools, the pros and cons of each, and how business users can determine when it’s time to make the leap from Excel to Quantrix.
Quantrix is very powerful and while Excel Spreadsheets are great for simple, two-dimensional analyses such as comparing the sales of products from one year to the next. But before you know it your excel spreadsheet has gone from a two-dimensional problem to one that contains multiple dimensions, and they need to replicate the basic structure of the P&L -- tracking data across a 12-month time period, with the same line items, subtotals, and formulas -- across multiple worksheets. And that is the definition of a structured model, and Excel spreadsheets are not designed for that. They may be terrific for calculating expense and mileage reports, and other two-dimensional analyses, but they are not the right choice for a structured, multi-dimensional model. When you reach that level it is time for your Excel to grow up and move to Quantrix.
Quantrix is the next step to Excel but how do you know when is the right time to move to Quantrix. The main indicator to move to Quantrix is time: When you find that you are spending more time maintaining your spreadsheets than you are doing actual work, it’s time to move to Quantrix. Fixing formulas, inserting rows and columns -- all of that takes too much time, especially when those actions need to be taken across multiple worksheets and tabs. Staff who have been hired to make important business decisions should not be copying and pasting formulas; that is a huge waste of talent. So start saving your valuable time and let your Financials Models grow up and switch to Quantrix for your business.
Quantrix versus Excel, which would you pick? To help you make that choice MXI are offering you the chance to compare your Excel Models against Quantrix. Click here to find out more: Excel Versus Quantrix.
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Quantrix has released the Quantrix Development Kit (QDK), a modular platform that enables companies to develop customized business and financial modeling applications that are more flexible, scalable, and robust than traditional excel spreadsheets and business intelligence based systems, while significantly reducing the time, effort, and cost associated with enterprise development.
With the Quantrix Development Kit, companies can more efficiently allocate business and technical resources. Business users are able to define the model and logic, while IT manages can manage the workflows, integration points, and security that enable secure collaboration. The Business End users will be able to access these tailored applications via custom interface such as a thin client or Quantrix Modeler, a desktop business modeling and analytics solution that enables financial and business planners to understand the impact of decisions through multi-dimensional modeling, visualizations, and “what if” scenarios.
Quantrix Development Kit provides a number of business benefits, including the ability to:
- Develop collaborative, server-based enterprise-wide applications that can be accessed on the desktop or via thin-client user interface.
- Enable business users to rapidly change, extend, and adapt the business planning processes to meet the needs of ever-changing business environments.
- Develop applications that solve specific needs using transparent business-driven logic.
- More efficiently use business and IT human resources as well as corporate information assets and data warehouses.
- Slash the resources required to create and maintain applications -- including programmer hours, learning curve, and costs – that are typical with enterprise applications.
- Replace error-prone and limited spreadsheets with a flexible, dynamic, and scalable modeling and analytics platform.
“Quantrix Development Kit enables businesses to find the sweet spot between the limits of spreadsheets and the complexity of enterprise BI and planning toolsets,” says Chris Houle, CEO, Quantrix. “Business users are empowered to build and maintain models with plain-language business logic, while freeing IT to focus on deploying and managing a customized application that offers the flexibility, scalability, and business insight that the company needs to improve performance.”
Quantrix Modeler’s multidimensional
business modeling and analytics software enables financial professionals to break away from the restrictions of spreadsheet technology to quickly develop financial models of the highest integrity, flexibility, and transparency. See how Quantrix can help your business with a
free trial of Quantrix.
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The proper use of budgeting and forecasting software and business intelligence and financial modelling software has been seriously stymied by the availability of spreadsheets. Users have been not critical of this vital marketplace and as a result their use has been overdeveloped, so many decisions made with the assistance of spreadsheets.
This means the user doesn’t need a technical background to develop proficiency with the tool. Users are able to employ their finance skills and creativity to build models that answer straightforward business questions. Problem arise when these models form the backbone of financial planning and decision making. Spreadsheets expand in terms of the number of cells, formulas, and calculations which means an increase in complexity, rigidity, and risk. Even simple changes often require significant revisions and testing to make sure the logic still works. As models grow, they frequently expand into linked worksheets. All of this extra work involved.
Budgeting, forecasting and planning are key to any business as businesses need to be responsive to changes in customer demands, cash flows, and general business conditions. Business simple can’t stop and changes to spreadsheet models can take hours, days or even weeks as they aren’t able to easily adapt to change. When you compare Excel against Quantrix these similar changes in Quantrix models take only seconds or minutes, leading to substantial gains in productivity and responsiveness to business conditions.
When reviewing any budget, forecast or business plans most people prefer to make decisions with timely information. Remember that updating and budget or forecasting spreadsheets with the latest data tends to break the model, requiring significant time to discover, repair and test. Any changes to the underlying budget or forecast data structure or volume need to be closely monitored to determine the impact on the model. Many times a breakage will go undetected until a colleague, client, or auditor discovers your forecast numbers or planning results that don’t add up. With Quantrix, you simply use the DataLink™ “update” feature to pull in the latest forecast data. Quantrix has the flexibility to accommodate changes to your planning or budgeting data sources so that the model scales and adapts as the data source evolves. With Quantrix, getting the latest version of your budget, plan or forecast is just a matter of clicking a button.
View our Quantrix Video to see how Quantrix can out pass Excel as your Budgeting and Forecasting Software Application.
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In today’s environment, purchasing decisions are under increased scrutiny especially from the Finance Team. Financial Controllers and Finance Directors need solid numbers based persuasion. The investment return must obvious and the cashflows, cost, ROI, clearly demonstrated. Stands to reason.
Financial modelling and business intelligence from MXI Software can convert data into real business advantage using financial modelling software such Quantrix, Crystal Reports. Vendors need a compelling business case for CFO’s and purchasing committees. Model-based selling is the next level approach offering that opportunity, especially for high-value products and services that deliver long-lasting returns and benefits.
Model-based selling is not a new concept; however, it has never realized its potential due to technology and perception constraints. Sales executives have historically employed
spreadsheets to present figures and charts to prospective clients. However, the reliability of the model can be called into question by the closed nature of spreadsheets. Complex, linked worksheets with cryptic formulas are frequently perceived with suspicion due to the lack of transparency. Spreadsheet models can be percieved as being contrived to support the sales executives’ claims rather than present an objective business case. Sales executives will occasionally struggle explaining the inner workings of spreadsheet models to the prospect’s satisfaction. Quantrix offers a transparent, flexible tool that is ideally suited to model-based selling.
Key benefits of Quantrix include the ability to: A) Clearly present the business case using NPV, ROI, simple payback, net cash flows, tax benefits, and other calculations and metrics. B) Demonstrate the full range of configurations, customizations and other variables with “what if” scenarios. C) Present customized configurations in real time. D) Rapidly prototype solutions and respond to proposals. E) Build confidence and trust with highly transparent, understandable models. F) Create professional-looking, interactive dashboards and visualizations. G) Integrate multiple data sources to populate model with actual, timely data. H) Refine and improve model with data-driven analytics and feedback.
Vendor’s products and services are frequently evaluated according to Internal Rate of Return (IRR) or Return On Investment (ROI). If the acquisition does not meet a certain threshold or compare favorably to other investments, then the purchase does not move forward. Quantrix enables users to build models that incorporate key financial metrics including ROI, IRR, NPV, payback and others. Financial Controllers like to see where the numbers came from, it is much easier to demonstrate how the logic was constructed. The business logic and cell values used for these calculations are transparent and inscrutable, thus giving the sales executive the confidence to explain and stand behind the model.
Since Quantrix models are created with plain-language formulas, it is very easy for prospects to understand and validate the logic. Quantrix models often reduce the number of formulas by over 85%. Interested Take the Excel Challenge and let us show how Quantrix will work effectively for you. Excel Challenge
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Within many companies, there are ften two distinct camps of business analyst, defined as anyone who organises data and creates meaningful information and analyses as part of their job. In one camp, you have spreadsheet users. These are usually professionals in finance, sales, human resources, operations, etc. They are likely to have a business
background and varying degrees of technical acumen. They favor spreadsheets because
they can create business models such as forecasts, budgets, strategic plans, compensation and other models that provide answers to a variety of straightforward, day-to-day issues. Some of these spreadsheet users have developed advanced skills for
building pivot tables, linked worksheets, and macros.
In the other camp, there are the business intelligence (BI) people, financial modelling skills. They are typically professionals with degrees in computer science, database administration or some other technical specialisation.
They’ve embraced BI tools due to their superior reporting, analytics, performance, integration and scalability. They develop complex multi-dimensional OLAP analyses whose capabilities can be extended and customised with programming. They create
detailed reports and dashboards by aggregating, organising and presenting historic company data. As these two camps come from differing perspectives, have differing objectives, and use different business tools, they effectively “speak different languages”
which results in a significant gap that hinders the full potential of business analytics within the organisation. For these people we recommend a free trial of the Business Intelligence financial modelling tool QUANTRIX. Free Trial QUANTRIX
Filling the Gap
Businesses need a tool that brings the two analyst camps together by filling the gap between spreadsheets and BI tools – one that affords the approachability of spreadsheets with the robust analysis and reporting capabilities of BI applications. In
his article “The Changing Face of Business Intelligence”, David Wells discusses the gap between IT-centric BI applications and office-oriented spreadsheets. As he states, “The goal of next generation analytics is not to choose – certainly not to eliminate one approach in favor of the other. Instead, it is to fill in the middle, moving from two extremes to a continium of analytic options.” He further contends that BI needs to be focused more on the business analyst.
"The business analyst" says Wells "is not someone with a business analyst title, but more likely a manager who simply has to perform analysis as part of day-to-day work. This new generation of analysts has high expectations. They want their analytics fast, they want easy connections to trustworthy data, and they want to keep the data in sight. But most of all they want forward-looking analytics. The retrospective stuff of the past doesn't meet their needs. They want to answer 'what if' questions with modeling and simulation." Thats why we recommend a
Watch Video now click here QUANTRIX
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Using Quantrix Treasury management budgeting and forecasting software, MXI Quantrix UK/Ireland helps organisations to manage treasury and working capital management to free up resources for investment and growth. Spreadsheets errors and inaccuracy prevents these same players from taking advantage of the opportunities to improve and strengthen cash flow, settle payments quickly, reduce working capital liabilities, negotiate favourable payment terms with suppliers, increasing the value of debt management staff.
So you need to ask yourself is using a spreadsheet the best way to do all of this. Considering that you need to splice the data in so many different ways. Decisions are usually required quickly, 3 months, 6 months, roll your deposit or move it elsewhere. CEO and Finance directors need clarity when managing loans and deposits. They need to be able to ask questions and get answer quickly. MXI Quantrix UK, with our treasury management and cash planning software, enables this.
Quantrix helps define investment and treasury management objectives by balancing risk thresholds and liquidity needs more effectively against optimal costs for investing to achieve the best possible yields.
An effective investment and treasury management policy outlines investment philosophy, roles, and responsibilities. It defines acceptable types of investments, reports and forecasts against stated objectives and guidelines for investing, such as the acceptable categories of investments, reasonable levels of investment volatility, strategies for investment to fuel growth and procedures for changes and exceptions to the policy.
Quantrix helps companies manage cash globally, see the gains, opportunities, risks with our Treasury management and cash planning software.
Do you want to see what the difference between Quantrix and Exel is? Why not take our Quantrix versus Exel Challenge to find out!
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Planning is an expensive, time consuming exercise rarely near the top of anyone favourite task. An annual exercise for any corporate entity. Budgeting, Planning, Forecasting and financial modelling is currently a mixture of Business Intelligence, ERP systems and spreadsheet with the later doing most of the heavy lifting.
A third way emerges in all of this which provides a proper platform for IT and Business users to co- exist successfully. Business Planners need speed and flexibility which is why spreadsheet are so common where the IT dept Manager would prefer a more structured disciplined approach. Watch our demo video on forecasting to see why.
The third way of which we speak allows complete integration to existing data sources.. CRM, Bloomberg Screens, ERP Software, Data Warehouses. The third way is a robust, integrated scalable solution which is also multi dimensional at the coal face where the Business Analyst does the financial modelling and planning. More flexible than a spreadsheet, structured in its approach to satisfy Auditors, Regulators and IT Depts.
Business Users, Forecast Analysts and Planner do have alternatives which despite upfront costs less expensive that spreadsheets. There are planning and modelling solutions like Quantrix. They create, adapt and coordinate business plan with ease.
Define, adapt and apply the business logic & structures to produce Forecasts, plans, models budgets. Scenario test these plans vigorously allowing Managers a full 360 view of their options. Business Analyst can now have platform for testing business drivers, business logic and scenario testing that drive the analytics process and management reporting with much great accuracy and quicker than existing approach.
IT becomes the enabler now, free of the concerns about spreadsheets, supporting the business teams certain in the knowledge the process is part of the organisation not building Islands of remote spreadsheets.
IT Dept has a workflow process which it can demonstrate and support into future so there are no succession issues. There are standardised costs, 3rd party support, visibility which suits the way most IT depts. run. No more spreadsheet errors to chase down, thorny version control issues associated with spreadsheets. Regulated access the company's business systems for integration providing the vital source information on which budget and forecasts are built. And finally a audit control illustrated of who changed what when.
IT, Finance, Sales, Operations Planning, Management and Principles get a disciplined, flexible, productive solution that does not hem people in like a large enterprise budgeting solution which brings budgeting to the new level.
A great way to see such forecasting technology is action is by trying it for yourself. Try the Quantrix Challenge
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