How Hacon, part of Siemens Mobility Software, accelerated forecasting with Pigment

Hacon, a Siemens‑owned company and part of Siemens Mobility Software, develops digital, efficient and cross‑linked software solutions for the mobility of tomorrow. 

At a glance

• Achieved a truly integrated finance and HR resource planning model by linking disparate data into one platform.
  
• Eliminated manual work and ad-hoc spreadsheets, driving efficiency across planning cycles.
  
• Enabled frequent, detailed bottom‑up forecasting to meet Siemens’ enterprise requirements of 10 times per year.
  
• Built a scalable and user-friendly solution, expanding from an initial small team to a broader user base
  
• Met Siemens’ stringent strict asset protection and data security standards.

Delays on the line

Before Pigment, planning and planning processes were fragmented across local and enterprise tools. This lack of integration led to manual workarounds, where the team often had to run multiple systems in parallel just to remain compliant with Siemens’ processes.

Multiple data silos, manual processes, limited version‑control, and a lack of unified end‑to‑end planning across finance, HR and revOps made it difficult to deliver forecasts.

Compounding the issue, the HR system lacked a formal period-close mechanism, making it difficult to conduct reliable variance analysis and track changes over time. As a result, providing clear and consistent explanations for variances across periods became a recurring struggle.

Getting back on track with Pigment

Recognizing the need for a new approach, the Hacon and Siemens Mobility team set out to find a solution that was not only powerful and high-performing but also intuitive for business users to manage without heavy IT involvement. 

The project, led by Marvin Persing, FP&A Team Lead, had strict criteria they were looking for including, user friendliness, integrations, process automation, modeling flexibility, performance and pricing.

In their search for an enterprise performance‑management solution, Hacon underwent a lengthy 10-month evaluation process considering different vendors present in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software.

The project team had to ensure vendors met Siemens’ enterprise requirements as well as their own, and were impressed to see the product developments Pigment had made in between seeing a first demonstration and reaching a decision.

The company’s CFO attended an event in Berlin that proved to be a turning point, offering a firsthand look at how easy and enjoyable Pigment was to use - making daily work straightforward and efficient.

Want to experience Pigment firsthand too?Join us at one of our upcoming in-person events and see how intuitive, fast, and enjoyable modern planning can be. Explore upcoming events here.

Innovation and AI

With Pigment in place, Hacon has transformed their planning and reporting processes. The finance team now operates from a single source of truth, integrating SAP, HR, and Salesforce data in real time.

The ability to run detailed, bottom-up forecasts on a regular basis, meeting Siemens’ demanding cadence, has fundamentally changed their approach to planning. Instead of relying on occasional, high-effort forecasts built on rough estimates, the team now delivers timely, data-driven forecasts that bring together information from across the business.

Not only has this saved significant time, but it has also enabled the finance team to scale with the business, supporting double-digit growth without increasing headcount.

Hacon has begun integrating Pigment AI features into their daily workflows, starting with Documentation Assistant and AI-powered search, which have already proven valuable for quick access to information and streamlined knowledge sharing. 

Most exciting is their early adoption of the Analyst Agent, where they are exploring use cases such as automated management reporting, anomaly detection, and even admin support for finding data outliers. 

Instead of building countless custom reports and views, the team now sees the potential for AI to generate standardized, on-demand insights, reducing manual configuration and letting users focus on high-value analysis.

Looking ahead, Hacon plans to scale Pigment to additional entities, deepen their workforce and profitability analysis, and take full advantage of Pigment’s ongoing innovations, including AI-powered features and advanced reporting tools.