insightsoftware IDL

insightsoftware is a US-based global provider of solutions for the office of the CFO backed by private equity investors Hg, TA Associates and Genstar Capital. The company employs more than 2,600 people worldwide and serves over 34,000 customers with more than 500,000 active users in 150 countries. insightsoftware was formed in 2018 through the merger of Hubble and Global Software, Inc. The vendor’s rapid growth in recent years has been largely driven by acquisitions. In enterprise performance management (EPM), the key vendors acquired by segment include Bizview, Calumo, Fiplana, JustPerform, Longview, Power ON and others (planning, budgeting and forecasting); Clausion, IDL, JustPerform, Longview, Viareport and others (financial close and consolidation); Certent and others (disclosure management and regulatory reporting); and CXO, Logi Analytics and others (BI). This strategy has resulted in a broad portfolio of software solutions for finance, accounting, and data and analytics.

insightsoftware’s comprehensive product portfolio includes cloud and on-premises solutions for the key processes of today’s finance organizations: budgeting and planning, financial reporting, operational reporting, close and consolidation, disclosure management, ESG, tax reporting, business intelligence, analytics and data management. These solutions can be used independently or in combination and are offered to customers based on their individual needs and strategic direction (e.g., focused use cases, UI requirements, industry, global or local orientation, company size, connectivity to source systems, etc.). The overall goal is to enable the office of the CFO to turn information into insights that empower business leaders to strategically drive their organizations.

Within the DACH region, insightsoftware’s FPM go-to-market strategy is strongly focused on IDL and its professional applications. Founded in 1990, IDL was acquired in 2020, and has offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. Today, insightsoftware sees IDL’s comprehensive FPM platform as a strategic element for its future success and expansion in the DACH region and bordering countries.

IDL’s FPM suite is an integrated platform and includes modules for financial consolidation and close (IDL Konsis), financial planning (IDL Forecast), operational planning, reporting and analysis (IDL Designer) and disclosure management (IDL Publisher). Complementary solutions for financial filings and prebuilt content for specific industries and use cases are also available. IDL solutions can be deployed either in the cloud (using Microsoft Azure), on premises or in hybrid scenarios.

A particular strength of IDL Konsis is the comprehensive integration of details such as intercompany data and asset and equity history. Interfaces to common source systems, data input forms and Microsoft Excel-based data input forms offer a wide range of options for group head offices to receive data. Intercompany reconciliation can be carried out in the group currency, but also in the transaction currency. If implemented by the customer, it is possible to drill down to the level of single postings. Navigation within IDL Konsis is mainly via two status monitors, one for the single entity and one for the group. By defining validation rules, the consistency for harmonized data is ensured at any time. Standard reports as part of the group consolidation and close process can be created within the application, but also in Microsoft Excel using the available add-in.

IDL supports scenarios for financial planning with IDL Forecast and for operational budgets (e.g., sales, HR, etc.) with IDL Designer. IDL Forecast is aimed at business departments, often belonging to a corporate group. Company-wide financial result plans (balance sheet, P&L, cash flow) can be created at subsidiary or group level. IDL Forecast provides a predefined financial (planning) data model with intertwined business rules, based on relational data storage. Thanks to the tight integration with IDL Konsis, it is possible to consolidate plan data (or actuals) immediately, taking into account planned intercompany allocations. IDL Konsis offers comprehensive functions for legal consolidation including intercompany reconciliation as well as management consolidation. Extensive predefined business rules for financial management are available as standard in the solution.

In addition to its operational planning functionality, IDL Designer is also the central component of IDL’s reporting platform, offering web-based functions for creating ad hoc and standard reports, OLAP analyses and dashboards. It provides a user-friendly environment for designing individual reports with custom layouts that can be organized in a report catalog.

For additional requirements not covered by IDL’s own solutions, integration with other insightsoftware applications is possible.