Blog: Craig Schiff

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October 25, 2006

Update: Microsoft PerformancePoint

Since the Microsoft announcement several months back many in the industry remain skeptical about their ability to deliver anything of substance any time soon. The only real fear seems to be the potential impact on pricing. Unfortunately for the rest of the BPM vendors, I believe that the Microsoft impact will be larger and be felt sooner than expected. I know many of the people that have been recruited into sales and pre-sales positions at MS and most of them are top-notch, experienced BPM corporate salesmen. Being able to sell to the corporate business buyer has been perceived as one of the weakest links in the MS PerformancePoint chain. Speaking with those sales people has also revealed that they already have substantial pipelines of major corporations very interested in learning more about PerformancePoint. On the product side, one of the pre-sales guys who has been in this space for many years is very impressed with what he has seen so far. While the larger BPM vendors tend to minimize what MS is capable of, some of the smaller vendors see the writing on the wall. Many of them are planning to leverage what is being delivered by Microsoft and add their own unique domain expertise on top. How this will all turn out is anybody's guess, but it is certainly going to be an exciting time in the BPM world.

Posted by at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 29, 2006

Analyst Brain Drain

What is going on with the Business Intelligence/Business Performance Management analysts at the major IT advisory firms? Many seasoned thought leaders are either changing firms or joining the vendor community. Howard Dresner and Frank Buytendijk left Gartner for senior strategy roles at Hyperion. Lee Geischecker recently left Gartner for another advisory firm (where I would guess she will be under some form of non-compete for a period of time). I am also aware of senior analysts at two other firms getting ready to make a move as well. One is planning to join a vendor, the other has not finalized their plans yet. Maybe these analysts are looking to round out their resumes, or maybe they were made offers too good to pass up. Regardless, the impact on vendors, the IT media, and end user organizations could be significant. The number of unbiased, knowledgeable experts to call upon for guidance and opinions will be greatly reduced. Some of these analysts will be replaced, in other cases research areas will be consolidated. In either case there will initially be 'green' analysts learning the space. The few seasoned experts left standing will be in high demand. Factor this in to your analyst usage plans for the next 6-9 months.

Posted by at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2005

Key Analyst Takes New Position

There are not that many industry analysts that appear to fully comprehend BPM today and the possibilities for tomorrow. The few that do get it (read: align with my thinking) include Lee Geischecker and her associates at Gartner (although they insist on calling it CPM), Henry Morris and Kathy Wilhide at IDC, and John Haggerty at AMR. A name that has been missing from that list of late is John Van Decker, formerly of Meta Group. Well, after a brief stint in a strategy role at a vendor, John has returned to the analyst fold. He can now be found at the Robert Frances Group. Welcome back John.

Posted by at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 9, 2005

Geac: Acquire or Be Acquired

The BPM industry can be brutal for the software vendors. As the demand for their software has heated up each vendor is trying desperately to outdo the competition. Since prospects are showing a preference for vendors offering a complete BPM suite those who don't have it (which is most of them)are looking to quickly acquire the missing pieces. Geac, who not too long ago did their own acquisition of Comshare for budgeting and consolidation capabilities, may now be an acquisition candidate itself. Geac has stated publicly that they have been looking to make additional business software acquisitions. Apparently a recent planned deal fell through due to price, and now they are considering putting Geac itself up for sale. How many BPM companies will be left a year from now and who will they be? Comments welcome.

Posted by at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)