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Modern finance and operations teams rely on fast, reliable insight to plan, forecast, and make decisions. A recent global study found that around 82% of companies admit they are making decisions based on stale or outdated information, underscoring why effective planning, analytics, and real-time data foundations are so critical.

IBM’s analytics and performance tools; Planning Analytics, Cognos Analytics, and IBM Controller, give organisations the structure they need to move beyond manual spreadsheets like Excel or Google Sheets, and build a planning and reporting process they can trust.

Our IBM consultancy practice helps you design, implement and optimise these tools so they support the way your business actually works, strengthening Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) across finance and operations. It’s never just about getting a platform in place; it’s about creating models, reporting frameworks, and data foundations that help people make better decisions with less effort.

As an IBM Gold Partner, with long-standing IBM Champions and a team that has worked with the IBM stack for decades, we’re equipped to support organisations at every stage of their analytics journey. Whether your focus is improving forecasting accuracy, accelerating reporting cycles or strengthening data control, we work with you to build a clear roadmap and deliver practical, hands-on support.

Most teams come to us with similar challenges: operational processes held together by spreadsheets, siloed reporting, and analytics workflows that slow down key decisions.

What IBM Consultancy Covers

IBM consultancy at Sempre brings together the tools, processes, and guidance organisations need to modernise their planning, reporting, and analytics.

It’s a practical, structured approach that reflects how finance and operations teams work day to day, balancing technology expertise with the realities of spreadsheets, legacy systems, and fast-changing commercial pressures.

At the core of our consultancy are five key areas:

IBM Planning Analytics (TM1)

Modelling, budgeting, and forecasting that replaces spreadsheet-led cycles with a governed analytical engine. Planning Analytics supports everything from 13-week rolling forecasts to more advanced techniques like scenario planning, helping teams build confidence in their numbers, even during volatility.

IBM Cognos Analytics

Reporting automation, dashboards, and self-service analytics that provide a clearer view of performance. Organisations often see immediate benefits when modernising Cognos models, or upgrading from earlier releases such as Cognos 11.2.4 LTSR.

IBM Controller

Financial consolidation, close, and statutory reporting, giving finance teams the structure they need when managing multiple entities, currencies, or ownership models.

Accurate consolidation depends on strong governance and well-defined master data. Our guidance on Master Data Management shows how consistent hierarchies and controlled data structures help Controller deliver reliable, audit-ready results across complex environments.

Data Foundations

Governance, data quality, lineage, and master-data structures that keep reporting and planning consistent. Many organisations begin by exploring the principles behind data governance, strengthening data privacy and compliance, or designing frameworks for a connected data platform, long before new technology is implemented.

FP&A Transformation

Moving from static annual budgeting to continuous planning and forecasting. This includes aligning Business Intelligence (BI) workflows, improving operational planning, and linking finance and operations.

Most organisations arrive with similar challenges: spreadsheets that no longer scale, slow reporting cycles, siloed data, and high dependence on manual processes. IBM consultancy helps remove those barriers by combining the right tools with practical guidance on how to structure reporting, align planning disciplines, and embed governance across teams.

Crucially, this work is shaped by an understanding of the day-to-day pressures facing both finance and IT teams; balancing control, accuracy, and auditability with the need for speed, flexibility, and minimal disruption to business-as-usual.

To explore how each IBM technology fits into a broader performance strategy, you can learn more about our dedicated services in IBM Planning Analytics, Cognos Analytics, and IBM Controller.

IBM Technologies We Support

Within our IBM consultancy practice, we focus on three core technologies. Each one plays a distinct role in how organisations plan, consolidate, and report; but they’re at their most powerful when they work together as part of a connected performance and analytics landscape.

IBM Planning Analytics (TM1)

IBM Planning Analytics sits at the heart of modern FP&A. Built on the TM1 engine, it provides a single governed environment for modelling, budgeting, and forecasting, without the risks of spreadsheet-driven processes.

Teams use Planning Analytics to test assumptions in real time, build long- and short-range scenarios, and apply approaches such as continuous planning or risk-led modelling. Many organisations begin by replacing spreadsheet-heavy workflows, improving data confidence, and connecting financial models to operational drivers through integrated planning.

Planning Analytics becomes even more effective when paired with Cognos Analytics. Our work on increasing reporting capabilities from PA using Cognos shows how PA models can directly power reporting, enabling more consistent insight across teams.

Explore our dedicated Planning Analytics consultancy for a deeper look at how we help organisations design models, strengthen governance, and build trusted planning processes.

IBM Cognos Analytics

Cognos Analytics brings reporting, dashboards, and automated insight into a single, governed platform that supports faster, more confident decision-making. Instead of waiting for static packs, teams can explore live dashboards designed around the metrics that matter most.

Many organisations use upgrades to unlock improvements in performance and capability, especially when moving to releases such as Cognos Analytics 12.1.0. Others focus on modernising modelling, such as exploring the differences between Framework Manager and Data Modules.

Cognos can also be extended into tools that teams use daily. Integrations such as Cognos + Microsoft Office or improvements in concurrency, as described in our Concurrent Query Execution guidance, help organisations scale reporting further across the business.

Learn more in our Cognos Analytics consultancy, including dashboard design, reporting automation, and BI modernisation.

IBM Controller

IBM Controller provides structure and control for financial consolidation and close. For organisations managing multiple entities, currencies, or complex ownership structures, Controller helps automate consolidation rules, intercompany eliminations, and statutory adjustments. This vastly reduces the manual effort required to prepare accurate group financials.

Controller becomes even more valuable when it sits within a connected environment that includes Planning Analytics and Cognos Analytics, supported by strong data governance and consistent master data. Resources such as our Master Data Management guidance and insights into connected planning foundations illustrate how these structures support reliable close and reporting cycles.

Find out more about our IBM Controller support, including design, optimisation, and integration across your wider analytics environment.

What Sempre Analytics Helps You Achieve

Technology only creates value when it actively changes how people plan, report, and make decisions. Our IBM consultancy work focuses on outcomes that matter for finance and operations; improving accuracy, accelerating reporting cycles, and building data foundations that leaders can trust.

These outcomes typically fall into three areas.

Better FP&A and Forecasting

For most organisations, forecasting is where the pressure is felt first. Teams are expected to provide quicker answers, model more scenarios, and deliver greater accuracy, often while relying on spreadsheet processes that create versioning issues and slow down decision-making.

Recent FP&A Trends research shows that only 35% of FP&A professionals’ time goes into high-value analysis, with most of the effort consumed by collecting, preparing, and reconciling data. This is one of the biggest drivers behind the move to structured planning tools.

IBM Planning Analytics replaces those manual cycles with a single, governed environment that mirrors the complexity of your business. Teams can test assumptions, update inputs, and run scenarios instantly, whether they’re modelling operational drivers, cashflow, or long-range plans. Approaches such as rolling forecasts or agile financial planning become far easier to sustain when the underlying engine recalculates changes in real time.

The biggest gains often come from short-term visibility. Many organisations adopt disciplines like 13-week forecasting or advanced cashflow forecasting to navigate uncertainty. Planning Analytics gives these frameworks the structure they need to remain accurate and repeatable.

Teams looking to evolve their FP&A maturity often explore related themes around data-driven decision-making, such as CFO-led analytics strategy, which highlights what “good” looks like in more advanced planning environments.

For many teams, the FP&A journey begins with short-term forecasting discipline. Our cashflow forecasting guidance is a practical first step toward more structured, data-driven planning.

Improve Decision-Making with Enterprise Analytics

Decision-making improves when people can access trusted data at the moment they need it. IBM Cognos Analytics plays a central role here, giving organisations dashboards, automated reporting, and governed self-service analytics that reduce reliance on static monthly packs.

Modern Cognos environments offer stronger performance, more intuitive visualisation tools, and better opportunities for automation. Upgrades such as Cognos 12.1.0 unlock improvements in speed, security, and capability. For teams exploring how reporting models evolve over time, comparisons such as Framework Manager vs Data Modules provide practical context.

Teams working with Planning Analytics often surface their models directly into Cognos dashboards. Our work on increasing reporting capabilities from PA using Cognos shows how a connected approach improves visibility, especially when paired with optimisations such as Concurrent Query Execution.

Strengthen Your Data Foundations

High-quality planning and analytics rely on strong data foundations. When organisations lack consistent definitions, structured master data, or clear governance, even the best technology cannot deliver reliable insight.

A recent industry study highlights the scale of the challenge: 77% of organisations report data quality issues, and over 90% say those issues directly impact performance. It’s one of the main reasons so much of our IBM work begins with fixing the foundations as well as the technology. This often begins with establishing governance principles.

Master data also plays a critical role in IBM environments. Our guidance on Master Data Management highlights how structured hierarchies improve consolidation, forecasting, and reporting.

Business intelligence also depends heavily on these foundations. Even small inconsistencies in data structures or KPI definitions can cascade into reporting errors, dashboard misalignment, and conflicting insights across teams. By improving governance, lineage and data quality, organisations can ensure that BI tools, whether Cognos or wider analytics platforms, provide a single, reliable source of truth for decision-making.

Many organisations are also broadening their focus to include the wider connected-data landscape. Our insights into the growing interest in data governance demonstrate how integrated data environments create the conditions for IBM Planning Analytics, Cognos, Controller, and BI workflows to operate at their best.

Real Results with IBM Technologies

Of course, IBM consultancy is only effective if it leads to clearer insight, faster decisions, and more confident planning. Here are some examples of how we’ve helped organisations use Planning Analytics, Cognos Analytics, and IBM Controller to transform the way they plan, report, and operate.

Each example highlights a different outcome, from forecasting accuracy to operational visibility and enterprise-scale analytics.

CVS Group – Performance management and reporting at scale

CVS Group needed a clearer, more consistent view of performance across a complex, multi-entity organisation. Through a combination of IBM Planning Analytics and Cognos Analytics, we helped them streamline reporting cycles and build a planning environment leaders could trust.

See how IBM analytics delivered real results for CVS Group.

Inspired Education – Connected planning and performance management in education

Inspired Education needed a more consistent and connected approach to planning and performance management across a complex, multi-entity education group. Using IBM Planning Analytics and Cognos Analytics, we helped create a unified planning and reporting environment that improved visibility, strengthened governance, and supported better decision-making across finance and operations.

See how IBM analytics supports connected planning at Inspired Education.

Kurt Geiger – Retail planning and demand analytics

Kurt Geiger needed better visibility of product performance and demand patterns. Using IBM Planning Analytics, we helped deliver a forecasting and analytics framework that supports faster, more confident decisions across their entire retail operation.

Discover how analytics improved retail planning and insight.

VCCP – Agency-wide planning and performance insight

VCCP needed better visibility across financial and operational performance in a fast-moving agency environment. Using IBM Planning Analytics, we helped design a planning and reporting framework that supports scenario modelling, improves forecast accuracy, and gives leadership clearer insight into performance drivers across the business.

See how IBM Planning Analytics supports planning at VCCP.

Together, these examples show the impact of a well-designed IBM environment: faster reporting, stronger governance, clearer visibility, and planning models that support the decisions leaders need to make every day.

IBM Insights & Guides

A recent survey of data leaders found that just 23% of respondents express full confidence in their organisation’s data quality; a stark reminder of how difficult it can be to build planning and analytics processes that leaders can genuinely rely on.

If you’re looking to strengthen those foundations, these resources are a helpful place to start. They bring together practical guidance from our consultants, real-world examples, and advice on building a modern performance and analytics environment.

Each one reflects the challenges we see most often across finance, operations, and data teams.

Financial Planning & Forecasting

Integrated Business Planning

How organisations connect operational and financial planning to improve decision-making, collaboration, and forecast accuracy.

Explore Integrated Business Planning

Increasing Reporting Capabilities from Planning Analytics Using Cognos

A useful walkthrough of how Planning Analytics models can feed directly into performance reporting.

Read the PA-to-Cognos reporting walkthrough

Enterprise Analytics & Reporting

Cognos Analytics Upgrade Guides

IBM’s upgrade cycles introduce new functionality and improved performance. If you’re exploring what a modern Cognos environment could look like, these resources provide a helpful overview:

Cognos Analytics with Watson

An overview of how Watson-powered insight supports analytical exploration and reporting.

Learn about how Cognos + Watson enhances analytics

Concurrent Query Execution

Optimisation techniques that help improve report performance and scale BI across the organisation.

Learn how Concurrent Query Execution improves performance

Framework Manager vs Data Modules

A detailed look at modelling approaches inside Cognos and when each one is most effective.

Compare Framework Manager vs Data Modules

Data Governance, MDM & Data Foundations

Strong data foundations are essential for any IBM environment. These guides offer practical steps for building the governance, structure, and control that support trusted analytics.

Mastering Data Privacy & Compliance

A practical look at how organisations strengthen data privacy, compliance, and security across complex data landscapes. Useful for teams evolving their governance frameworks to reduce risk and improve trust in enterprise reporting.

Learn how to strengthen data privacy and compliance

Data Governance – The Superhero Cape Your Data Has Been Waiting For

An accessible breakdown of how strong governance improves data quality, reduces operational friction, and gives analytics teams the confidence they need to make faster decisions. A helpful introduction for organisations early in their governance journey.

Read our data governance breakdown

Mastering Master Data Management

A clear overview of how structured master data underpins planning, consolidation, and reporting. This guide outlines the principles, disciplines, and governance controls needed to keep enterprise data consistent across IBM environments.

Learn about the principles of Master Data Management

The Imperative of Master Data Management

A practical look at why MDM matters for organisations dealing with multiple systems, entities, or data sources. This piece explores how strong master-data structures reduce risk, improve accuracy, and create a more connected analytics landscape.

Explore why Master Data Management matters

Improving Data Quality in Practice

Practical techniques and everyday methods teams use to strengthen data quality, from reducing errors and inconsistencies, to improving the reliability of reporting and analytics.

Explore practical ways to improve data-quality

Events & On-Demand Learning

If you prefer to learn through real-world sessions or practical walkthroughs, these on-demand events provide a useful starting point:

Each session reflects the topics that often sit alongside IBM consultancy work; governance, data quality, privacy, and the structures that keep planning and analytics environments reliable.

Related Services

IBM consultancy sits within our broader performance and analytics work. If you’re exploring how IBM Planning Analytics, Cognos Analytics or IBM Controller fit into a wider transformation, these pages provide more detail on the services that support your roadmap.

Enterprise Performance Management

A strategic look at how planning, reporting, and analytics come together to support more confident, data-driven decision-making. This overview explains how EPM frameworks help organisations strengthen performance cycles, improve forecasting accuracy, and build a more connected operating model.

Explore Enterprise Performance Management

IBM Planning Analytics

Design, build, and optimisation services for Planning Analytics environments. This page outlines how we help organisations modernise forecasting, improve modelling structures, speed up planning cycles, and get more value from their PA investment.

Explore IBM Planning Analytics consultancy

IBM Cognos Analytics

Support for reporting automation, dashboard design, and BI modernisation. This service page covers how we improve Cognos environments, enhance performance, streamline report delivery, and help teams build analysis leaders actually use.

Explore IBM Cognos Analytics consultancy

IBM Controller

Services that streamline financial consolidation, statutory reporting, and period-end close. This page explains how Controller solutions improve accuracy, reduce manual workload, and give finance teams a more reliable close process.

Explore IBM Controller consultancy

Planning Analytics Health Check

A practical review of your Planning Analytics environment, focusing on model structure, performance, and usability. This guide outlines the common issues that limit forecasting accuracy and planning efficiency, and offers clear steps to improve stability, speed, and adoption.

Explore the Planning Analytics Health Check

If you’re not sure which technologies or services fit your needs, our consultants are always happy to discuss where the biggest opportunities lie.

Talk to an IBM Specialist

Whether you’re already using IBM technologies or exploring how Planning Analytics, Cognos Analytics, or IBM Controller could support your next phase of growth, sometimes the quickest way forward is a conversation.

We’re here to help you sense-check your roadmap, explore opportunities to improve forecasting or reporting, or understand how IBM tools can support the maturity of your finance and operations processes.

If you’d like an informed, practical view of what’s possible, you can talk to an IBM specialist and we’ll walk you through the options at a pace that suits you.