October 19, 2015 — CEO Joanne Brunn to lead Webinar: “Ease of Use, the Key to Engaging and Retaining all Users, Begins by Moving from Excel-based Spreadsheets to a Collaborative Budgeting Solution”; Craig Schiff, President and CEO of BPM Partners, will be featured guest speaker

XLerant Inc., a leading solution provider of cloud-based budgeting, forecasting, and reporting for organizations, today announced that CEO Joanne Brunn will moderate, “The Next Budgeting Requirement: Ease of Use – Key to Adoption and Utilization” webinar with featured guest panelist Craig Schiff, President and CEO of BPM Partners, as well as panelists Minden Dickson, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis, Hunt Companies and Cheryl Warner, Controller, Northwood University.

Schiff, a nationally-recognized expert on BPM (Business Performance Management) solutions, will share his perspective on the various meanings of ease of use and why it is different than familiarity, the significant impact on adoption and rollout success if this key aspect is overlooked, and how to evaluate ease-of-use in product selection.

In addition, the panelists will share their experiences and lessons learned evaluating and selecting their BPM software solution, focusing on the role ease-of-use played in their purchase consideration, as well as the real- world impact (and return on investment) of ease-of-use on implementation, adoption, maintenance, increased collaboration and employee engagement.

“We look forward to a very informative webinar,” says Brunn. “Craig has literally written the guidelines for the successful selection of BPM solutions–he, along with Minden and Cheryl, will help demystify what can often seem like a long, overwhelming process, focusing on how ease-of-use is paramount to success and an organization achieving its strategic objectives.”

“Speaking with our clients, we know non-financial end users by and large dread the budgeting process– especially when faced with an Excel-based spreadsheet,” said Brunn. “At XLerant, we believe that ease-of-use is key to employee engagement, and that it begins with moving away from a traditional rows and columns model to a cloud-based, user-centric platform that facilitates collaboration and communication.”

XLerant was named “One to Watch” in the 2015 BPM Pulse report produced by BPM Partners, the leading independent authority on business performance management, earning a 4.83 out of a 5 in overall customer satisfaction, the second highest score in the industry.

About XLerant, Inc.

XLerant provides cloud-based budgeting, forecasting and reporting solutions for small to mid-sized organizations — designed for the needs of finance teams and budget managers. XLerant’s non-Excel interface engages budget managers and empowers them to make informed decisions to help achieve strategic objectives. XLerant’s powerful software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution has been recognized for outstanding usability, customer service, and ease of implementation.  For more information, visit www.XLerant.com or follow @XLerant