Anaplan Managed Services: What to Look For (and What to Avoid)

You've decided to explore outsourced Anaplan support. Here's how to evaluate providers without getting burned.

If you're reading this, you've probably already worked out that your Anaplan environment needs ongoing professional support, and you're evaluating whether a managed service makes more sense than hiring. Good. The next question is: what does good managed service actually look like, and how do you tell the difference between providers?

What "Anaplan Managed Services" Actually Means

Let's be clear about the terminology, because it's used loosely. Anaplan managed services means an external team takes ongoing responsibility for the operation, maintenance, and development of your Anaplan environment. They become your Anaplan admin team.

This is different from:

Anaplan's own Care team. Anaplan's support handles platform issues: bugs, outages, workspace administration, licence questions. They don't maintain your specific model, update your hierarchies, or build your dashboards. Think of it as car manufacturer support vs having a mechanic.
Project-based consulting. This is a defined scope of work with start and end dates. Useful for implementations or major model rebuilds, but not for ongoing operations.
Staff augmentation. Placing a contractor who works under your direction. They sit in your team, you manage them, and when they leave you're back to square one.

True managed services means the provider takes accountability for outcomes, not just supplying hours. They manage the work, document the knowledge, and ensure continuity regardless of individual team changes.

What Good Managed Services Looks Like

Certified resources. Everyone who touches your model should hold relevant Anaplan certification. Not "we have certified people on the team." The actual people working on your environment should be certified. Ask to see credentials.

A named team. You should know who's working on your model. Not a ticket queue where anonymous resources pick up requests. A named lead who understands your business, your model architecture, and your stakeholders.

Documented SLAs. Response times by severity. Resolution targets. Reporting on SLA performance. If a provider can't tell you their specific response commitments, they're winging it.

Proactive, not just reactive. Good managed service isn't just fixing things when they break. It includes regular health checks, performance monitoring, adoption reviews, and recommendations for improvement. Your environment should get better over time, not just maintained.

Knowledge documentation. Everything about your model (architecture, data flows, business logic, operational procedures) should be documented and kept current. This protects you from lock-in and makes transitions (whether to a different provider or back in-house) straightforward.

Escalation path. When something's genuinely complex (an architectural decision, a performance problem, a strategic question about the platform) there should be a senior practitioner available. Not just the day-to-day admin team, but someone with deep experience who can provide guidance.

Budget season flexibility. Your Anaplan workload isn't flat. Budget and forecast cycles create peaks. A good managed service anticipates this and includes surge capacity rather than charging you extra every time things get busy.

Red Flags to Watch For

Offshore-only teams with no UK oversight. There's nothing wrong with offshore delivery, and it's often excellent value. But you need UK-based leadership who understands your business context, regulatory environment, and working patterns. A team in a different timezone with no local accountability creates communication gaps that hurt during critical periods.

No certification requirements. If the provider doesn't guarantee that the people touching your model are Anaplan certified, you're getting generalists learning on your environment. Your production model is not a training ground.

No SLAs, or vague SLAs. "We aim to respond within 24 hours" is not an SLA. "Critical issues: 4-hour response, standard requests: next business day, measured and reported monthly" is an SLA. If they can't commit to specific numbers, how will you hold them accountable?

Ticket-queue anonymity. If you can't find out who will be working on your model, or if different people pick up each request without context, you'll spend more time explaining your environment than getting work done.

Long-term lock-in contracts. A 12-month minimum commitment with limited documentation is a warning sign. Good providers don't need to trap you. They earn your renewal every month. Look for short initial terms (3 months) followed by rolling monthly contracts.

No evidence of Anaplan-specific experience. Some managed service providers offer "EPM support" as a generic service. Anaplan is a specific platform with its own architecture, modelling language (formulae, COLLECT, LOOKUP logic), and operational requirements. Ask about their Anaplan implementation history, not just their general EPM credentials.

Questions to Ask Any Provider

Before you sign anything, get clear answers to these:

"Who specifically will work on our model, and what are their Anaplan certifications?" Get names and credentials. If they can't answer this before you sign, they'll be scrambling to resource you after.
"What are your SLA commitments by severity?" Get it in writing. Critical, high, standard, low. Response time and resolution target for each.
"How do you handle knowledge transfer during onboarding?" A structured process with documentation deliverables is good. "We'll pick it up as we go" is not.
"What happens during budget season?" Is surge capacity included or extra? If extra, what does it cost?
"Show me an example of your documentation." If they document model architecture, data flows, and operational runbooks as standard, they should be able to show you a sample (anonymised).
"What's your exit process?" How do they help you transition if you decide to bring it in-house or move to another provider? Documentation handover, knowledge transfer sessions, transition support.
"Who's the escalation point for complex issues?" Who reviews architectural decisions? Who do you call when something's genuinely broken at the structural level?

How to Compare Providers

When you're evaluating two or three providers, focus on these differentiators:

Depth vs breadth. Some providers cover everything: Anaplan, Pigment, Planful, Power BI, plus custom development and data engineering. Others specialise narrowly in one platform. You want enough breadth that they can advise on platform strategy (should you stay on Anaplan? should you expand?), but enough depth that their Anaplan resources are genuinely expert.

Mid-market focus. The big consultancies (Deloitte, Accenture, etc.) offer Anaplan managed services, but their pricing reflects their overhead and they're oriented toward enterprise clients with £200k+ annual budgets. If you're a mid-market company with 1-3 models, look for providers who serve your segment specifically.

Transparency on pricing. Ranges are fine. Vagueness is not. If a provider won't give you a pricing indication before a three-week scoping exercise, they're either unsure of their own economics or inflating the process to justify higher fees.

Cultural fit. You're going to work with these people regularly. Do they communicate in a way that works for you? Are they direct about problems? Do they explain things clearly or hide behind jargon?

A Note on Our Position

We're a managed service provider ourselves, so we have obvious bias here. What we can tell you is what we believe differentiates our approach:

We're Anaplan specialists who understand the platform deeply. Our team has delivered implementations and ongoing support across multiple industries.
Our team includes experienced Anaplan practitioners who provide architectural oversight for every client.
We start at £3,000/month with a 3-month initial term and rolling monthly thereafter. No lock-in.

If that sounds like what you're looking for, read about our Anaplan AaaS service. If it doesn't, the evaluation framework above will still help you find the right provider.