Analytics is a critical component of performance management, and can help a company compete more aggressively. Typically, organizations face significant challenges taking endless amounts of data and turning that into actionable information. Analytics tools play a critical role in sorting and prioritizing that information so that executives and managers can make appropriate decisions. Traditionally, organizations have relied primarily on spreadsheets as their primary analysis tool. This has led to a series of issues for many organizations, concerning collaboration, data accuracy and the ability to convert analysis into actionable budgets or forecasts.