More than 70 controllers exchanged views on FP&A at the smart 4U event in mid-September. The event, jointly organized by smartPM.solutions and Unit4, was not only aimed at power users, but also at all controlling experts who appreciate flexible controlling technology combined with top consulting and support.
“A successful partnership at the highest level is intensified”, says Alexander Hein, CEO smartPM.solutions. Both companies focus on their respective strengths – top technology with a lot of flexibility from Unit4 and 5-star consulting, support and specialized modules from smartPM.solutions. The offer of the technology provider is thus optimally supplemented with a lot of expert knowledge. Jochen Wiessler, Regional President DACH & Eastern Europe at Unit4 and Alexander Hein welcomed the attending power user and those interested in the Unit4 FP&A solution. Among them were many participants from the energy supply industry.
“It was nice to get to know the faces behind the screens in person”
Open question and answer sessions and workshops gave the participants die opportunity to discuss their individual concerns. “The atmosphere was very inspiring and relaxed“, said one participant. “It was nice to get to know the faces behind the screens in person”, added a controlling colleague. The meeting at the Köln Sky not only amazed with a great view of the Cologne Cathedral, but also with a great view of the future in planning, forecasting and reporting.
Michael Lengenfelder, Vice President Application Design FP&A at Unit4, showed the roadmap of Unit4 FP&A, the planned further development of the software and new functions. In addition to the online support community, topics such as reports, dashboards and internal imports were discussed.
Informative workshops for FP&A and energy suppliers
The energy supply companies also left the focus workshops at the smart 4U event with many ideas. More than 20 years of industry and project experience have gone into the modules further developed by the smartPM EVU team. The topics of energy shortages and making the right decision in times of crisis were particularly present among the event participants. The participants were amazed by the newly developed FP&A modules and features. On top of the risk controlling and management module presented by Pascal Speicher, topics such as sustainability controlling, fully integrated planning and Project Performance Management were dealt with in detail. In addition, the topics Procurement Performance Management, network controlling, Sales and Investment Performance Management were covered and shown live in the software. The invited power user were able to network very well with each other during the networking breaks and offered each other assistance with expert topics.
Not only the event participants benefited from the new content and ideas around FP&A, but also the teams of smartPM and Unit4. In the Customer Advisory Board, useful functions were named for the power users that could be included in their daily work in controlling in the future.
“Is that you with the blue elephant?”
The 2m tall blue mascot of smartPM.solutions was excited to be at a face-to-face event again. The guests of the smart 4U event shared this excitement and warmly welcomed the relaxation. Many little plush Smartofants were adopted by the participants and are looking forward to a new home in the controlling office. The smartPM family has already received many Smartofant snapshots. Every picture of the mini Smartofant on trips, in the office or in the children’s bedroom pleases the whole smartPM.solutions team and goes into the Smartofant gallery.
