Five Ideas: Management Excellence

In this updated Five Ideas, experts talk about why business intelligence matters during a downturn.

“In this severe economic downturn, the majority of organizations are focused on survival. Their goals and objectives are focused on weathering the recession until better economic times return, and their strategy will be simply to cut costs. They will keep doing the same old things—just less of them. This approach may keep the organization alive during the recession, but it will most certainly result in a weakened competitive presence in the marketplace. Such companies will be poorly positioned to take advantage of the
economic upturn when it occurs. After two decades of favorable economic conditions, management teams may have forgotten that growth follows a slowdown.” —John Kopcke, Senior Vice President, EPM

“I doubt the survival of companies that believe that an EPM system is 'nice to have;' but not a 'must have.' With uncertainty and volatility in our global economic system at high levels, the efficiency and effectiveness that an EPM system creates is critical to a company’s ability to compete and endure." —Thomas Oestreich, Chief EPM Strategist

“Three imperatives for surviving and even thriving in today’s market. First, you need to enforce transparency, immediately. If you don’t have access to the right data about the market and your organization, you’re flying blind. The basis of performance management is a solid business intelligence foundation. Second, adopt rolling forecasts next to or instead of a traditional budget. Sticking to the plan is useless, you need to stick to reality, that is changing every day. Lastly, use performance management to (re)build trust in your organization and in your market. Say what you do, and do what you say. Share critical information with all your stakeholders, through supplier scorecards, customer service levels, sustainability reporting or do like New York City, posting all performance indicators on your web site."—Frank Buytendijk, Vice President, EPM

“Many companies do a fine job of reporting quarterly performance results. However, in the face of rapidly changing conditions, those organizations that are able to report on key indicators and metrics on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis have the potential to gain key advantages over their competitors...Companies need to be 'smart,' closely monitoring demand and keeping costs in sync with revenue. They need to be 'agile,' monitoring changes in their markets and businesses so they can respond quickly to both negative and positive changes. And they need to be 'aligned,' investing resources in the most profitable opportunities and empowering line managers to make informed decisions on a daily basis."—John O'Rourke, senior director, EPM product marketing

“Measuring and understanding success is critical for three reasons. First, understanding what drives performance lets companies know what metrics to monitor. They can then use these metrics to make the decisions that lead to longterm improvements. Second, without an understanding of what drives performance, managers will be continuously 'fighting fires' rather than solving the root of the problem. Third, understanding what success is allows companies to compare their performance to others. As a result, companies can understand what is possible to achieve and set goals accordingly."—Nigel Youell, Director, Product Marketing, Performance Management Applications