From the Field (Part 3): FP&A Driving Efficiency & Strategic Agility

Previously, we explored how Datarails, Anaplan, Cube Software, and Prophix helped businesses gain real-time insights and transform their financial operations. In this part, we will see how tools like Workday Adaptive Planning helped Kainos company to modernize their planning environments, handle growth challenges, and make more profit without hiring more people..

5. Workday Adaptive Planning: Aligning Finance and HR for Scalable Agility

Kainos Group, headquartered in Northern Ireland with over 3,000 employees and revenues of $500 million per year, helps companies with digital transformation. Its focus is on Workday Services and Workday Products as a major implementation partner. Internally, it chose Workday to improve its own business operations. 

Workday Adaptive Planning is targeted at mid-to-large enterprises that require collaborative planning across departments and fast insights for decision-making—especially during periods of transformation or expansion.

Pricing typically starts around $50,000–$150,000 annually, scaling with users, modules, and integration depth.

Our insight:

• Many $500M+ revenue companies are moving away from Excel dependency but still want Excel familiarity (Vena, Cube).
• Others are seeking modular platforms that support FP&A today but can expand into sales/HR planning later (Anaplan, Pigment).
• Companies in professional services or tech consulting often favor Planful or Vena for their finance-first orientation and lower deployment friction than Oracle or SAP.

Top FP&A Software Alternatives to Workday Adaptive Planning

The Challenge: Post-IPO Complexity and Manual Bottlenecks

After going public, Kainos faced inefficient close cycles, inflexible systems, and finance-centric budget control that hindered team-level decision-making.

The Solution: Integrated, Real-Time Planning

By implementing Workday Adaptive Planning alongside Workday HCM and Financial Management, Kainos:

• Delegated budget ownership to team leads
• Replaced rigid spreadsheets with intuitive planning tools
• Automated procurement, expenses, and forecasting
• Integrated bank data for real-time cash reconciliation
• Used Workday Extend for custom apps like credit card workflows

Business Impact:

• Reduced manual invoice entries from 50% to 15%
• Cut half-year audit cycle time by 33% (2 weeks to 1 week)
• Accelerated monthly close from 8 days to 7 days
• Automated supplier payments down to 20–30 minutes
• Saved £95,000 annually through finance process automation
• Delivered accurate forecasts in 1 day (previously 3–6 weeks)
• Bank reconciliation now takes 10 minutes/day, removing bottlenecks

Strategic ROI:

• Empowered project teams with budget control
• Enabled real-time forecasts for fast decisions
• Enhanced compliance with audit-ready traceability
• Supported expansion with agile finance and HR planning

Product Demo Video:

Real Benefits:  Kainos unlocked agility, accuracy, and accountability, turning finance from a bottleneck into a business enabler.