THE VALUE MATRIX

VALUE NOT MAGIC

THE VALUE MATRIX

The Value Matrix provides a transparent tool to help businesses quickly assess their technology options in a friendly, visual format. We provide a straightforward analysis of tech solutions based on the functionality and usability they deliver. You can easily compare solutions and zero in on those that meet your unique business requirements.

It’s all about simplifying the tech decision based on the facts, not magic. Not market share, future promises and opinion. An accurate assessment of where each technology stands based on the factors you need to make the right decision – does it have the features we need and will our team be able to actually use it?

Leading businesses regularly use the Value Matrix to make better tech decisions. We have Value Matrices for the following tech areas:

Corporate Performance Management (CPM)
Inventory Optimization (IO)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Workforce Management (WFM)
Human Capital Management (HCM)
Talent Management
Supply Chain
Control Tower
Analytics

FUNCTIONALITY

The whole point of investing in technology is to get beneficial features, tools and overall functionality that can help your business. With the Value Matrix, you quickly see how each vendor compares within the industry. The further to the right, the more functionality it delivers.

If you need advanced features, for example, then functionality becomes the key consideration. Easily compare your options among those offering the most functionality weighed against your usability needs.

USABILITY

What’s the point in having the best functionality if few people within the business can actually use it. In fact, we are seeing a big trend toward broader technology use as solutions are being leveraged by more departments and employees throughout the organization. That’s because there is great value in the data many apps contain. Analytics, CRM, ERP, for example all offer strong insight for the business. Plus, there is a general move for enterprise software in particular to integrate with other apps for new efficiencies. That’s driving the need for more people across the business to have access to apps that are easy to use.

The further to the left, the more usability a technology offers. Those solutions closest to the upper right-hand corner represent technology that is offer both high functionality and great usability.

ROI CASE STUDIES

In addition to the Value Matrix to assess technology solutions based on functionality and usability, it’s also useful to see how other businesses have leveraged technology. Nothing defines success better than Return On Investment (ROI). Nucleus Research has published more ROI Case Studies than any other analyst firm. These customer successes are filled with instructive best practices and lessons learned. Learn more about our ROI case studies and ROI tools:

LEARN MORE

THE VALUE MATRIX

INDUSTRY BY INDUSTRY

Get to know the technology Leaders, Core Providers, Facilitators and Experts in each industry.

ERP

HCM

CRM

CTT

CPM

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

The enterprise resource planning (ERP) market continues to shift as cloud technology matures and vendors strive to deliver more industry-specific capabilities in their core products. Although some customers still do not see sufficient value in the cloud, vendors are seeing cloud adoption accelerate, with more companies moving critical business processes to the cloud, rather than just “edge” applications. To improve their value proposition, leading vendors are making their cloud offerings more accessible and giving customers the flexibility to which they are accustomed from their on-premises legacy systems.

HCM

Human Capital Management

Our analysis shows that nearly 90 percent of the value in human capital management (HCM) resides at its epicenter. Providers displaying the greatest breadth of functionality for HCM under one suite tend to lead the market, and any vendor that does so and is also strong in functionality for the essentials of employment — e.g. payroll and the rest of workforce management (WFM) — are often the best of the best.

Analytics Technology

Analytics and business intelligence (BI) are not new concepts in the market place, but the exponential growth of offerings, lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and simplified deployment options have made these solutions a necessity for modern businesses. Some customers continue to use a comprehensive stack of a database, extract-transfer-load (ETL) tools, an analytics engine, and a reporting interface from a single vendor, placing much of the burden on IT to keep operations running and produce reports. However, many businesses are finding success with a different model based on smaller-scale deployments of self-service or embedded analytics and data discovery tools directly to end users.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

With most leading vendors making significant product releases several times a year, the customer relationship management (CRM) market continues to be a moving target. At the same time, CRM applications have by far the fastest turnover rate of any class of enterprise applications, for several reasons including the relatively low switching costs of cloud applications, the turnover in sales and marketing management, and the desire of companies to take advantage of the latest tools and technologies that match their experience and skill sets. On the technology front, CRM buyers are still often making separate decisions for sales, marketing, and service automation — and separate decisions for different functions within those pillars — so vendors with a strong integration and platform message are making themselves more attractive.

Talent Management

There has been little movement recently in the talent management market. The biggest exception is Saba Software, which has charged forward on the heels of the company’s decision to acquire Halogen Software to offer mile-deep, end-to-end specialization at the intersection of performance management and learning. It’s a wise competitive move, and we believe 2018 will touch off a fire sale for vendors that fail to develop sound strategies to survive and thrive in the new normal — where everything they do today is also available from full-suite providers of technology for all of HCM.

CTT

Control Tower Technology

Supply chain control towers continue to evolve from tools that deliver visibility almost exclusively to solutions that provide capabilities like collaboration with trading partners and functionality that enables supply chain planners to automate processes and controls. While visibility is still valuable, especially when solutions integrate data from multiple disparate systems to provide the highly sought-after single version of the truth, the day-to-day management of the supply chain offers room for improvement. Leading vendors allow users to set parameters to elements of their supply chains, such as inventory levels and replenishment plans, and then leave the tool to make adjustments when issues arise.

CPM

Corporate Performance Management

Corporate performance management (CPM) has long revolved around planning, budgeting, and forecasting core functionality, but companies are now focusing on other ways to differentiate themselves. We found that most CPM products have similar functionality when it comes to core components. Where companies differ is in their ability to seamlessly integrate with other business applications and their ease of usability.