SAP AG recently announced it has been named by independent analyst firm Forrester Research as a leader in business performance solutions (BPS) in a new report. In the November 2009 report – "The Forrester Wave: Business Performance Solutions, Q4 2009" – SAP was positioned as a leader and ranked with the strongest overall current offering 1 out of 10 other vendors. SAP BusinessObjects enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions were evaluated on the following core BPS capabilities: planning and budgeting; financial consolidations; cost and profitability management; and strategy and performance measurement applications.

Through vendor surveys, product demonstrations and customer-reference surveys, Forrester Research's 89-criteria evaluation of BPS vendors found that SAP achieved the highest overall score for its current offering. On a scale of zero to five, the current offering from SAP earned a 4.38, the highest score achieved by companies evaluated in the report. Below are key comments from the Forrester Research report about why SAP is a leader in the market:

"By combining its BPS assets with those of Business Objects of nearly two years ago, SAP has developed first-rate capabilities in each of the four BPS core components, as well as an evolving set of analytical applications."

"Each of the four BPS components scored first or second in its respective category within the current offering criteria."

"SAP continues to move the portfolio forward with a road map to achieve user interface harmonization with a common process engine and metadata management."

SAP BusinessObjects EPM solutions help companies benefit from increased levels of strategic alignment, making performance more predictable and ultimately driving more confident decisions. SAP BusinessObjects EPM solutions are optimized for both SAP and non-SAP environments across multiple lines of business, including finance, supply chain and procurement. The portfolio includes solutions for strategy management; planning, budgeting and forecasting; financial consolidation; and profitability and cost management. The solutions are also integrated with SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence (BI) solutions and SAP BusinessObjects governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions to further help companies close the gap between strategy and execution.

"The Forrester BPS Wave report reflects the breadth and maturity of our performance management suite, which is focused on the business user and designed for both SAP and non-SAP customers," said Stephanie Buscemi, vice president of Marketing, Enterprise Performance Management and Governance, Risk, and Compliance, SAP AG. "By bringing together the traditionally disparate disciplines of GRC, EPM and BI, the suite empowers today's business users with the insight and clarity they need to optimize business performance. Our position as a leader in the market and top score for current offering underline SAP's commitment to providing a truly differentiated and proven performance management suite to our customers."

This BeyeNETWORK news item contains information from a recent press release by the company mentioned.