Blog: Craig Schiff

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June 26, 2007

Catchy New Phrases?

In talking with vendors recently some new phrases were used that I found intriguing. There are many phrases that I hear again and again in the business performance management world. These include things like: 'one version of the truth', 'profitability optimization', 'unified platform', and other equally boring stuff. It's refreshing to hear something new once in a while. I don't know if these two will catch on, but I like the concepts behind the words. The first one is 'BPM Squared'. This is based on the fact that BPM stands for both business performance management and business process management. The company using this term, Inforsense, is basically saying that their solutions bring business performance type analytics to everyday business processes throughout the organization. The other term is 'difference-maker'. In BPM we often talk about giving every decision-maker the information they need to make the right choices. Microsoft, in using this term when talking about PerformancePoint, is essentially saying there is a broader group of workers that have an impact on the business that should be included in the solution. This goes along with their 'pervasive BI' message. I doubt that these phrases are trademarked so feel free to use them and make them part of the language we use to discuss BI and BPM.

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June 6, 2007

BPM/CPM Plays to Packed House

I just returned from CFO Magazine's Corporate Performance Management Conference in New York. Due to a torrential downpour the first morning I arrived a few minutes late and ended up having to stand as there were few if any open seats left. I would estimate that the room was packed with about 175 to 200 finance managers and executives (not as big as many IT events, but large for this type of audience). The crowd was very engaged and taking copious notes. I was the second speaker that morning and after my speech numerous people came up to me to ask for guidance on how to address their performance needs. Since most performance management projects still start in the finance department all of this bodes very well for continued momentum in performance management..

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How Did I Miss This One?

It seems that during the recent rash of mega mergers in the business performance management space a smaller acquisition slipped in under the radar. Corvu, one of the early performance dashboard vendors has been acquired by a company called Rocket Software. Their long-term competitor performancesoft (PBViews) was acquired a while back by Actuate. It is difficult to be a dashboard only vendor and Corvu had been trying to branch out, with limited success. So, I guess the acquisition is good for them and their customers, but Rocket Software doesn't seem to be focused on performance management and has only a minimal focus on business intelligence.

Technorati tags: Corvu, Rocket Software, Actuate, performancesoft

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