Aussie Business Performance Management Insight

BPS - A New Acronym for BPM?

2008-02-01T17:14:00.000+11:00

OK, I saw this in a press release today on a ZDNet site...

"...Sterna Technologies was one of the few enterprise products to present at Demo 08. The company introduced its Business Positioning System (BPS), which is another name for Business Performance Management (BPM) or any other variety of acronym for dashboards the improve corporate performance..."

Well I sure have never heard the acronym BPS as (quote) "another name for BPM"

Imagine the confusion in the market when companies need to wrap their heads around BI/BPM/CPM/EPM and now BPS!

Why don't we just have a single standard? Is it that hard?

Lets see - who knows what ERP is? And what is CRM? -- aha! it is really not that hard to have a single acronym.

I put a challenge out there to all of you....what about a single understandable acronym?

Personally of course we like BPM -- I wonder why?

Happy 2008 y'all

Justifying the spend on Business Intelligence

2007-12-18T08:02:00.000+11:00

I saw this article distiributed by the The Daily Telegraph in the UK (all credit goes to them) on December 13 and thought it was a worthwhile read...

With all that IT spend out there how do you justify the additional costs for a new BI solution?(and they can be quite large)

The overarching benefit any BI project will bring to your organisation is that it empowers users to be more efficient, it provides them more and better information --- all of this should translate to overall corporate improvement!

Overall improvements come in the form of:

Grow sales and boost profits
Improve customer retention and satisfaction
Empower business people to make better, faster decisions
Help in compliance with regulations and legislation
Share knowledge and reduce brain drain
Get promoted!

I agree wiht all of these business benefits and see these types of benefits continually told to me by all my clients (maybe the promoted one not so much!)

There are so many good reasons to do a BI project and these projects have proven to be so empowering and enlightening --- SO GET OUT THERE AND GET ON BOARD --- YOUR COMPETITORS ARE!!!

,,,and then IBM swallows the whole lot

2007-11-13T07:44:00.000+11:00

Funny how just recently Cognos were singing the tune to me of being the last independent BPM player. I guess in a way that still holds true. One thing that does remains true is that Cognos will still be ERP independent (which it would not have been if Oracle or SAP or Microsoft had acquired it)

Recently Cognos swallowed Applix (see my last post) and now, well IBM have the lot for a $5B transaction.

So what is worth saying here? Well when I think about it I guess I can only say that there really is still plenty of choice out there... Let's see....

what we have left here is the following at the top end of town:

Oracle (incl Hyperion)
IBM (incl Cognos and Applix)
SAP (incl Outlooksoft and Business Objects)
Microsoft
HP (?) -- hmm...not too sure whether they are a player or not!

For anyone who knows me this is what I have been saying for years .... there will only be four big players left!

Ok, so what options does an Aussie mid-sized company have?

Well there are still many small players left to choose from for those companies not wanting to get into bed with one of the big four, there is:

ZAP Technology
Corvu
Calumo
SeeMore Data
Microstrategy
Qliktech
Satori
Prophix
Board

see, there really are still many choices for you!

IBM/Cognos Press release: http://www.cognos.com/news/releases/2007/1112.html?mc=-web_hp

M&A continues....Cognos buys Applix

2007-09-17T11:50:00.000+10:00

Ok, so there is plenty analyst stuff out there and plenty of commentary... you can see BPM Partners Blog (Craig Schiff at

http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/schiff/)

but what does it mean for us down here in Australia?

Well.... anyone currently in the market looking to buy will surely find this a bit 'grey' --- which technollogy is better for your particular needs? the choice of company between cognos and Applix becomes a moot point (and by the way you gotta say Cognos is a far more stable, less risky option as a software supplier overall than Applix was)

Locally Applix has a very small direct team and mostly work via their partners (who by the way are mostly also very good - need to know who they are? send me a question and I'll tell you)

I suspect that Cognos will simply 'fold' the Applix partners into their family so from an implementation point of view any Applix customers should still receive the best implementation and will now get Cognos direct support.

From a pure technology point of view, again I see this as positive --- Applix customers will in future have access to the Cognos8 BI suite which has many distinct advantages over Applix. I of course have no idea what the prices will be like.

A win-win for Applix and Cognos Australian customers? I reckon!

For those currently evaluating and deciding what to do? Hmm.... a little more tricky.. you really do first need to decide on which technology is best for you (Applix and Cognos are truly quite different) and then decide how to negotiate the pricing for each of the range of products...Cognos Planning, Applix (which will no doubt be rebranded into a Cognos xxxx, Cognos Controller, Cognos BI - of which by the way there are many areas of functionality)

SAP buys Outlooksoft

2007-05-16T23:19:00.000+10:00

Hmm... have to admit this one took me by surprise!

SAP always needed to improve their BPM capabilities but it has not really been their style to go out and procure competitors (even if that competitor is tiny compared to them)

This is a good thing I reckon - both for SAP and for OLS, especially locally (in Australia) where my opinion is both companies were struggling to gain real traction in this particular space. And by that I mean against their core competitors.

OLS really needed a fresh injection of new people and SAP will no doubt bring that to them. SAP now have a much more 'user friendly' BPM offering to show their existing client base and prospective clients.

It will however be interesting to see how the technologies are integrated in the coming releases.

I am also proud to see that two companies that BPM Partners CEO (Craig Schiff) was involved with in their start-up phses have done so well --- Hyperion being purchased by Oracle and OLS being pruchased by SAP. I am proud to be associated with Craig Schiff! He is truly a visionary!

Cool Vendors

2007-04-12T08:24:00.000+10:00

Gartner have just published a new report called "Cool Vendors in Analytics, Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management, 2007" - You have to buy it unfortunately and I have no permission to reproduce it here.

I am persoanlly all for innovation. And it would appear that depsite all the 'big names' in the BPM (or CPM as gartner call it) space, there are still innovative companies out there.

Here are some local (Australian) ones for you to consider in your mix when evaluating BI/BPM companies. They are all locally grown and highly innovative:

SeeMoreData (Melbourne)
Enovation (Sydney)
ZAP Technology (Brisbane)
Mondelio (Sydney)
Corvu (Sydney)
Calumo (Sydney)

So, before you rush out and purchase only those with the large marketing budgets, consider some of the innovative companies too. You may be pleasantly surprised!

M&A activity continues

2007-03-28T15:56:00.000+10:00

On March 5th Corvu announced that they were to be acquired by Rocket software.

Extract of Press release follows: "...Minneapolis – Monday, March 5, 2007 - CorVu® Corporation (OTC BB: CRVU), an innovative provider of Business Intelligence and Performance Management software solutions, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Rocket Software, Inc. and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Software, Inc. under which CorVu will be acquired in an all cash merger transaction..."

So who exactly is Rocket software? I sure never heard of them, have you?

They certainly are a company on an acquisition trail (see http://www.rocketsoftware.com/news/news).

But what do they want with a BPM/BI Vendor? Well, it would appear from their website that they are quite a 'mixed' company and have their own BI tool called Rocket which appears to have multiple usages. So I can only guess that Corvu would server to add to that capability because Corvu has some great functionality surrounding a complete BPM solution.

I wonder if Rocket, who do not appear to have any exsiting Aussie presence plan on entering our market via Corvu?

Business Intelligence delivered as a Service (SaaS)

2007-03-15T21:12:00.000+11:00

I have been reading so much about Software as a Service (SaaS) recently. Seems it is the flavour of the month right now and it is certainly starting to gain favour with companies embarking on their own Business Intelligence initiatives.

This headline caught my eye today: "Car Toys Signs Two-Year Deal for On-Demand Business Intelligence" (http://www.sys-con.com/read/349005.htm)

Yes, on demand is definitely starting to make its way into the world of BI/BPM. Locally I know only two Vendors who offer such a service. (The Vendor quoted in the article is not represented in Australia to the best of my knowledge).

The article goes on to say that non SaaS business intelligence solutions rely on an organization's group of "power users" and IT support staff to provide analysis and reporting, whereas on demand, hosted solutions offer a self-directed capability that puts the complete power of business intelligence in the hands of every user, enabling each user to create custom analysis and reporting tailored to their own needs.

Well I think this may only be partly true. Experience has shown me that with some good training and with some of the newer web-based BI solutions available, many end users can in fact elevate themselves to self-service. Of course it takes training and it also takes a willingness.

So what makes a company select a SaaS offering rather than buying the software outright? I asked one of my clients if they would do it and their response was a resounding 'NO' - too risky to have their market sensitive information hosted outside their own firewall.

Yet our (BPM Partners) recent survey that closed in February showed that approx 1/3 of valid respondees would choose such an option. (Results available on our website).

I am a bit ambivalent at this stage - either option seems reasonable to me depending on your risk profile and appetite for outright purchase v pay-on-demand and 'keep it inhouse' v let someone else worry about the headache of maintaining databases and version control.

Oracle and Hyperion - what does it mean for Australian Oganisations?

2007-03-03T16:16:00.000+11:00

In a nutshell I think this acquisition will create short - medium term confusion for existing customers as well as those currently or about to go to market to procure new business software.

Clearly Oracle's ultimate goal here is to hurt its arch rival SAP. And this acquisition (of Hyperion) will certainly be a thorn in SAP's side, since many of SAP's platform customers use Hyperion for at least some component of their Performance Management strategy (budgeting, business intelligence, consolidation, strategic modelling.) This means that Oracle gets a footprint into those organisations that use the SAP/Hyperion combo and the Oracle sales force can now extend their target selling deep into SAP's base. Let's face it, along with the purchase of the technology comes an neat list of Hyperion's SAP clients.

So, existing SAP/Hyperion clients will suddenly find themselves as SAP/Oracle application clients. Hmm... let the confusion begin.

On the flip side of the coin, those organisations looking to procure software will be unsure as to Oracle's true intentions. Sure there are statments galore, but history shows that Oracle has been ramping up its own R&D into Performance Management / Business Intelligence. So now with the Hyperion suite, where does this leave Oracle's own products?

Since BPM Partners is a subject matter expert in evaluating such business software and has been tracking this space for a number of years, it has been clearly evident to us that consolidation will take place constantly. (And even with that, our anual buyers guide of BPM/BI vendors still grows each year - this year over 100 vendors). But with that so too will come market confusion. It takes a massive coordinated effort to align two software companies with different cultures, underlying technologies and management styles.

So what is next? Well it is anyone's guess but clearly Oracle have set an enormous precedent here and have paid a huge premium for Hyperion. Cognos and / or Business Objects (and maybe even Information Builders) are likely the next targets of an M&A. By whom - your guess is as good as mine!

One thing is for certain though - you need to do your due diligence before you rush out and buy software.

Open Source BI - 'custom development required'

2007-02-25T19:37:00.000+11:00

I came across this article in the online edition of computerworld last week: "Qld hospital admits open source BI" - Now this really intrigued me. Open source BI? I had not really heard of that before so I read on.

you can read it at: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;402526525;pp;2

The article goes on to say (and I quote from the online aticle here "...NetOptions' general manager of software development, , said custom development was required as there was nothing available off the shelf to satisfy the hospital's requirements..."

Now BPM Partners has over 100 Vendors on our list of BI/BPM Vendors (see our buyers guide on our website) and personally I find it hard to believe that there is nothing available and that organisations are required to build their own BI solutions.

I deal directly with incredible BI vendors with highly innovative products ranging from the 'leaders' like Cognos, Business Objects, Microstrategy down to start up innovative ventures like E-novation and Seemoredata. Each of these types of vendors have offerings to suit the most basic or most complex BI requirement and have proven that to be true.

So please tell me - and I will confess that I do not know exactly what was so unique about their their requirements - what do I not understand about this need to "custom develop" BI applications when there are so many available options out there to evaluate and choose from?

Just how much can we really sustain?

2006-11-15T21:09:00.000+11:00

In my role as an independent (in truth the only independent) advisor in the Performance Management / Business Intelligence market, I keep tabs on numerous Vendors, both long established and also newly created. In fact there are now so many that I can hardly keep up with new versions constantly released, new platforms and databases supported, new functionality added, new modules created, new add-ins.

As an exmaple, just which Vendors offer support for plug-ins to MS Office products, and more specifically which MS Office components and which versions are supported? The matrix of who supports what can really be mind-blowing!

BPM Partners is currently in the midst of compiling our annual BPM Buyers guide - the number of Vendors listed is now at a staggering 100+. For last years listing go to: http://www.bpmpartners.com/bpmcentral_articles.shtml

So where does it end? Just how many can this world sustain, and more importantly just how many can we sustain here in Australia? After all, our economy is really not all that big, is it? How many corporations are there out there that can buy BPM/BI products? Is it several thousand? Is it several hundred? And please, please tell me how they can possibly stack so many options up against each other without spiralling into a bottomless pit of confusion?

I'd like to hear your comments on this.

Downer EDI chooses Hyperion System 9 for Business Performance Management

2006-11-09T18:58:00.000+11:00

Downer EDI Ltd., an AUD $5 billion engineering and infrastructure management leader, plans to exert the same level of control on its fiscal reporting, planning and budgeting that it does on its major customer projects. Central to this effort is an integrated financial management infrastructure built on Hyperion System 9 software.

Faced with the challenges of a rapidly growing organization, Downer EDI sought to establish a standard framework that would enable the company to manage performance, track and report financial results, and meet regulatory requirements for its many divisions, business units and geographies. After evaluating several solutions, the company purchased licenses of Hyperion System 9 Financial Management and Hyperion System 9 Financial Data Quality Management software.

“Very few solutions have the breadth and depth that Hyperion offers,” said Peter Reichler, chief financial officer of Downer EDI. “And since two of our seven divisions already used and trusted Hyperion software, the choice was relatively easy.”

“Hyperion software works out of the box, and it isn’t difficult to use,” said Reichler. “In terms of a key financial control, this is the best piece of software I can find.”

Congratulations to Hyperion for this significant win in our tightly contested market