Business Performance Solutions Clash Of The Titans The Market Remains Vibrant Following Vendor Consolidation

January 20, 2009

Business Performance Solutions:
Clash Of The Titans
by Paul D. Hamerman
for Business Process & Applications Professionals

Making Leaders Successful Every Day

For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Includes a market sizing forecast

January 20, 2009
Business Performance Solutions: Clash Of The Titans
The market remains vibrant Following vendor Consolidation
by Paul D. Hamerman
with Kyle mcnabb and meghan Donnelly

ExECuT i v E S u m mA ry
Business performance solutions (BPS) — a software category consisting of applications for budgeting,
forecasting, financial reporting, profitability analysis, and performance measurement — has seen dramatic
growth and vendor consolidation over the past two years. The growth prospects for this space remain
bright, despite the near-term impact of the recession, driven by strong interest in strategy and performance
measurement. Forrester expects BPS software revenues to grow by 12.7% through 2012, growing from its
current size of $2 billion to $3.2 billion during this timeframe. Six large vendors — IBM, Infor, Microsoft,
Oracle, SAP, and SAS Institute — dominate this market, while a number of business intelligence (BI),
enterprise resource planning (ERP), specialists, and BPS pure plays offer a variety of interesting alternatives.

TABl E O F CO n TE nTS n OT E S & rE S O u rCE S
2 Business Performance Solutions Monitor The This research is based on numerous client
Pulse Of An Organization inquiries, as well as ongoing briefings and
discussions with BPS vendors, including Actuate,
5 The Recession Will Only Temporarily Slow BPS
Adaptive Planning, Board international, Clarity
Growth
Systems, Host Analytics, iBm Cognos, infor,
9 BPS Vendors Come In All Shapes And Sizes
lawson Software, longview Solutions, microsoft,
rECOmmEnDATiOnS Oracle, SAP, SAS institute, and Tagetik.
14 Learn From Best Practices To Avoid
Implementation Risks Related Research Documents
“measuring And Aligning Business Performance”
WHAT iT mEAnS
15 Market Consolidation Leaves The Door Open April 2, 2008
For Innovation
“The Forrester Wave™: Business Performance
15 Supplemental Material Solutions, Q4, 2007”
October 10, 2007
“Business Performance Solutions: The
Competition Heats up”
February 7, 2007

© 2009, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available
resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar,
and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To
purchase reprints of this document, please email clientsupport@forrester.com. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.

2 Business Performance Solutions: Clash Of The Titans

BUSIneSS PeRFORMAnCe SOLUTIOnS MOnITOR THe PULSe OF An ORGAnIzATIOn
Business performance management consists of a set of processes, frameworks, and systems for
activities such as planning, measuring, communicating, and monitoring business results (see
Figure 1). Enterprises typically link these activities to corporate strategies and objectives and might
drive them down to many individuals within the organization to encourage accountability and
control. Forrester defines business performance solutions as a category of purpose-built software
applications that support these activities.1 The major BPS functional elements include:

· Strategy and performance measurement address goals, objectives, and accountability. A
strategy management application supports formal strategy management philosophies (e.g., the
Balanced Scorecard) but might be adapted to a business’ specific needs. Applications often display
the strategy definition in visual strategy maps. Scorecards measure progress against the goals and
objectives set forth in the strategy framework. Performance dashboards display more detailed
information and allow drilling down to root-cause detail. Dashboards typically include a variety
of key performance indicators (KPIs) that might include strategic scorecards as well as relevant
comparisons against plans, budgets, forecasts, prior performance, and industry benchmark data.

· Planning, budgeting, and forecasting solutions support multiple forward-looking processes.
Although used almost universally as a control on spending, budgeting often falls short in
supporting performance initiatives — often the result of a rigorous and inflexible process, not
due to a software shortcoming per se. Fortunately, in addition to budgeting, the planning
solutions support a variety of scenario-based planning activities as well as forecasting processes
that add value beyond that provided by traditional budgeting processes.

· Cost and profitability management provides detailed analysis to improve margins. This
complex modeling activity helps organizations analyze development, production, and operating
costs against revenues by product, customers, and lines of business. Cost and profitability
management applications often use activity-based costing as the methodology to develop
sophisticated cost and profitability analytical models.

· Financial reporting and consolidation produce financial statements. Financial reporting and
consolidation applications produce reports focused on delivering financial statements based
on accounting results. Statutory consolidations support regulatory compliance and generally
accepted accounting principles (GAAP) requirements. These applications also support internal
reporting of financial information.

Although the functional elements described above align primarily with finance processes,
enterprises can use strategy and performance measurement, as well as forecasting, to support
all areas of the business. Many BPS product portfolios often include purpose-built performance
management applications for nonfinance areas including human resources (HR), operations,
supply chain, sales, and IT. All types of businesses and government organizations use BPS products,
although considerable extension and adaptation to business requirements is often required.

© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited
January 20, 2009

3

Figure 1 Business Performance Solutions Footprint

User experience

Dashboards Scorecards Spreadsheets

BPS application components

Financial reporting Strategy and
Business intelligence
and consolidation performance measurement
platforms and ERP systems
integration tools

Planning, budgeting, Cost and proﬁtability
and forecasting management

Conﬁguration tools for processes and business models

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
46571

Organizations Face An Uphill Battle With Business Performance Process execution
Adopting a strategically aligned and performance-driven culture is easier said than done. Performance-
driven enterprises need more timely support than traditional management processes — including
budgeting and accounting — often provide. Similarly, planning and measurement processes based
on labor-intensive methods (e.g., spreadsheets) are not responsive enough to run the business.
Business performance initiatives suffer from implementation and execution challenges ranging from
culture and organizational alignment to technology integration and project execution. Typical BPS
implementation challenges include the following:

· Strategies and execution processes are misaligned. All reasonably successful businesses have
a strategy, but often do not support their strategies with processes for communicating, aligning,
and executing them. When business units and departments lack a formalized performance
measurement system aligned with strategy, they develop their own performance measurements
and reporting mechanisms. The result: a great deal of effort expended, but company goals and
objectives are under-realized.

· Financial accounting and budgeting processes move more slowly than the business.
Financial information, a critical component of business performance information, enables the
visibility of revenues, expenses, profitability, and assets across various organizational dimensions.

© 2009, Forrester research, inc. reproduction Prohibited January 20, 2009


Yet problems with the complex procedures and batch interfaces required to close the books
along with lengthy budget preparation cycles diminish the actionable value of the information.

· Improvement initiatives face cultural resistance and unanticipated behaviors. Any initiative
to drive change in an organization, even if mandated from the top, faces natural resistance. The
phrase “you are what you measure” highlights the profound impact of measurements on human
behavior.2 To gauge their true behavioral impact, organizations must put measurements into
play, requiring trial-and-error tweaking. Measurement systems present challenges, particularly
when they affect compensation and, potentially, job security.

· Business performance questions go unanswered, even with the best technology. A multitude
of technology challenges hinder delivering performance information. One of the biggest
challenges, data integration, must collect information residing in a number of transactional
systems. Even when the systems can successfully assemble information on a BI platform, the
daunting task of effective information delivery remains. Business stakeholders must willingly
engage in the process of shaping the business models and frameworks that drive the delivery of
results. Therefore, IT-led initiatives to build and deliver performance management solutions are
doomed to fail without strong business-driven alignment.

BPS Packages Often Replace Homegrown Solutions
An organization with a strong internal BI IT talent pool and a robust BI infrastructure will likely
have developed customized business performance systems, particularly to address business
performance measurement and forecasting requirements. Companies with very limited resources
still rely primarily on spreadsheets and basic tools for business performance reporting and analysis.
These approaches have worked well for some organizations, but frequently require labor-intensive
maintenance and lack desired levels of flexibility.

BPS packages offer a level of configurability that puts control more squarely into the hands of
the business stakeholders. These solutions typically provide more business process control and
accountability than homegrown solutions, as well as starter kits containing best practices and
prebuilt functionality. Despite these user-driven advantages, IT’s role remains critical for integrating
and managing the underlying information. Enterprises seeking BPS support should look for:

· Compelling graphics and user interface features. While some products rely heavily on a
signature graphical paradigm, such as fuel gauges, customers need a selection of graphical looks
to suit the information context. End users should have the ability to personalize the presentation
of the graphical content by selecting the visualizations (e.g., symbols, colors, and charts) that
bring the information to life.

· Breadth of information. The extent to which a BPS vendor embeds a comprehensive analytical
data model differentiates many products. The data model should represent the full breadth of

January 20, 2009

5

the business, from finance to sales and operations, as well as supporting a variety of business
types. The solution should also enable organizations to compare certain KPIs to industry
metrics via connections to external content publishers.

· Flexibility and extensibility. Every enterprise has a combination of needs ranging from
common to unique, so the flexibility of the product to be configured (not customized) with
nonstandard measurements is essential. The business problems to support, from budgets, to
forecasts, to profitability analysis, depend on the business users’ abilities to model attributes
such as hierarchical structures, mathematical formulas, and timeframes.

· Openness for integrating multiple data sources. The product needs to be open at the data level
to analyze information from multiple systems. Vendors typically embed or work with leading
data integration and extract, transform, and load tools to manage the diversity of data inputs
to the system. The measurement applications ideally should allow access to underlying details
within the data through drilling into the source data.

· Support for measurement frameworks. Enterprises often find best practice measurement
frameworks useful as predefined structures within the BPS tools. For example, several tools
provide support for Balanced Scorecard frameworks and may be certified as compliant by the
Balanced Scorecard Collaborative organization.

THe ReCeSSIOn WILL OnLy TeMPORARILy SLOW BPS GROWTH
BPS has strong long-term growth prospects, but this software category is not immune to the
recession that we expect to continue well into 2009. Total software revenues (licenses, maintenance,
and subscriptions) will grow by 12.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2012
from $2 billion in 2008 to $3.2 billion in 2012 (see Figure 2). We based our market size estimate
on our analysis of individual vendor product revenues and momentum. In analyzing the revenue
components, we find:

· License revenue will see a slight decline in 2009, followed by a strong recovery. The
recessionary impact is manifested primarily in license revenues, due to reductions in IT
spending. Ironically, software for managing budgets and forecasts, mission-critical in times
of intense economic pressure, make up a significant portion of this market. Enterprises
will struggle to justify upgrading planning and analysis software in the middle of the crisis.
Following a slight 2009 decline, licensing will return to strong levels for 2010 and beyond.

· Maintenance is substantial and sustainable. Due to the maturity of the BPS market,
particularly for planning and financial consolidation applications, application maintenance
fees provide a strong recurring revenue base. Maintenance revenues will continue to grow as
new licenses and automatic contractual increases are added to the base. Since maintenance



represents more than half of the total BPS product revenues (54%), it will sustain overall growth
for the segment even in this challenging macroeconomic climate.

· Subscriptions will grow as the market gravitates toward software-as-a-service (SaaS).
Software subscription revenue, including SaaS, currently makes up a relatively small component
(8%) of total BPS revenues. But subscription revenue will grow at a 15.7% CAGR during the next
few years. SAS Institute currently generates the bulk of the subscription revenue in this space
today, although enterprises deploy its applications on-premise. SaaS vendors in this space —
including relatively small companies like Adaptive Planning and Host Analytics — will see good
uptake as this deployment model moves toward becoming the mainstream in BPS. Within three
years, customer demand for the SaaS consumption model will compel larger BPS vendors to
introduce SaaS offerings.

Figure 2 Forecast: Global BPS market Growth 2008 To 2012

The spreadsheet detailing this forecast is available online.

Actual Forecast
$3,500

Subscription
$3,000
revenue
$2,500

Revenue
$2,000
(US$ millions) Maintenance
revenue
$1,500

$1,000

License
$500 revenue

$0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 CAGR

Subscription revenue $139 $155 $183 $222 $266 $289 15.7%

Maintenance revenue $974 $1,082 $1,223 $1,407 $1,632 $1,893 14.2%

License revenue $670 $744 $737 $840 $940 $1,053 9.5%

Total revenue (millions) $1,783 $1,981 $2,142 $2,468 $2,838 $3,235 12.7%
(numbers have been rounded)
Sources: Company reports, Hoover’s, and Forrester estimates.
46571

January 20, 2009

7

Strategy And Performance Measurement Solutions Lead BPS Component Growth
The traditional finance components — planning, budgeting, and forecasting and financial reporting
— make up 39% and 28%, respectively, of BPS product revenues. Strategy and performance
measurement (25%), however, has the highest growth rate at 18%, as companies move toward more
comprehensive enterprise performance initiatives (see Figure 3). Considering each of the four
component categories individually, we find:

· Forecasting has moved to the forefront as a growth driver for the planning category.
Demand remains strong (11% growth through 2012) for planning, budgeting, and forecasting
solutions, which enable companies to support a range of planning processes. Forecasting is a
more nimble planning vehicle than either budgeting or structured financial planning models
(e.g., for mergers and acquisitions). In fact, flexible forecasting models, which organizations
can build for various aspects of the business, drive many deals to help companies cope with
economic uncertainty and market volatility.

· Financial reporting and consolidation is largely a replacement market. Public companies
with multiple subsidiaries and lines of business use these applications primarily for external
reporting and statutory compliance. As a mature category, maintenance sustains its 10% growth
rate, but legacy product replacement and stopgap solutions fuel licensing. Regulatory filing
requirements, adoption of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as an open standard
for rendering financial statements, and adoption of international accounting standards (i.e.,
International Financial Reporting Standards) drive growth for this mature segment of BPS.

· Strategy and performance measurement systems have the highest growth potential in
BPS. Many organizations already measure business performance across the enterprise using a
variety of metrics and KPIs, but technology capabilities often lag management’s need for this
information. The desire to formalize measurement processes, supported by incentive rewards,
contributes greatly to our forecasted 17% growth for this segment, a trend that parallels the
rapid uptake of human capital management applications for employee performance.3 The
incorporation of risk management measurement frameworks (key risk indicators [KRIs]) to
help companies anticipate the negative consequences of unusual events will also drive growth.4

· Cost and profitability management is making a comeback. Current economic conditions
inspire renewed interest in closely managing costs and profitability. Though relatively small (8%
of BPS), this category has a healthy growth trajectory of 13% through 2012. Companies will
demand these tools to help them understand their most profitable products and customers, and
which water down profit margins. Adopters of these tools may benefit from expert guidance in
constructing the models, which software suppliers often provide.



Figure 3 BPS Segment Analysis

3-1 2008 BPS segmentation by product category

Cost and
proﬁtability
8%

Planning, budgeting,
and forecasting
39%
Strategy and
measurement
25%

Financial reporting
28%

3-2 2008 BPS segment growth

Strategy and 18%
measurement
Cost and 13%
proﬁtability
Planning, budgeting, 11%
and forecasting

Financial reporting 10%

(numbers have been rounded)

Source: Company reports, Hoover’s, and Forrester estimates.
46571

January 20, 2009

9

BPS VenDORS COMe In ALL SHAPeS AnD SIzeS
Four of the largest information technology vendors in the world dominate the current BPS market —
IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. A stunning market consolidation took place in 2007, when SAP,
IBM, and Oracle acquired three major BI and BPS vendors — Business Objects, Cognos, and
Hyperion, respectively. These BI vendors were also among the leaders in BPS at the time they were
acquired, and BPS assets factored heavily in these multibillion dollar acquisition transactions.

Microsoft’s entry into this market occurred in the same timeframe, largely through internal
development efforts of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. Two additional major BPS
players — Infor and SAS Institute — have annual revenues exceeding $2 billion, putting them
among the largest software vendors. These top six vendors currently account for approximately 70%
of the overall BPS market in terms of software revenues (licenses, maintenance, and subscriptions).

expect More Of The Same: Market Consolidation Is Familiar Territory Within BPS
Prior to the large BI acquisitions, the BPS market had been consolidating for several years. Many
enterprise users of BPS still use the former brand names of the products they use, making a
genealogy chart useful for those trying to identify what they’ve licensed (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 Business Performance Solutions vendor Genealogy, 2002 To 2008

Oracle SAP IBM Microsoft Infor SAS Institute

Geac/ ABC
Hyperion Cognos
OutlookSoft ProClarity Extensity Technologies

UpStream Comshare
Applix
Pilot
Software FRx Software
Software
Razza Systems
Adaytum
Solutions Business Union
Stratature
Objects
Decisioneering Frango
(Crystal Ball)
Dundas Data
Cartesis
Visualization
Siebel
ALG
Software
PeopleSoft SRC
Software

Interlace
Systems

46571



Earlier transactions included in this roll-up include SAS Institute’s acquisition of cost and profitability
specialist ABC Technologies in 2002, and Cognos’ acquisition of budgeting and planning vendor
Adaytum in 2003. Several deals occurred just months prior to the larger BI acquisitions, including
SAP’s acquisitions of OutlookSoft and Pilot Software in 2007, and Cognos’ acquisition of Applix just
two months prior to the IBM-Cognos deal announcement in November 2007.

Whereas IBM had no pre-existing BPS assets to rationalize with Cognos, SAP and Oracle had more
overlaps to resolve. Each had to decide which products to lead with and which to put on life support.
Oracle’s clear choice was to lead with the Hyperion BPS products, while SAP chose a mix of assets
between its portfolio (e.g., OutlookSoft and Pilot Software) and those of Business Objects (e.g., ALG
Software and Cartesis).5 While vendors have well-defined road maps at this stage, the integration
and harmonization work continues.

BPS Offerings Fall Into Four Types Of Vendor Buckets
The types of vendors offering BPS products range from the technology giants to small, specialized
vendors (see Figure 5). Breadth of coverage of the four main BPS functional components varies
widely, and has no correlation to overall vendor size, as shown in the more detailed vendor guide
(see Figure 6). These categories and key vendors are described below.

· Diversified technology leaders battle for supremacy. The four technology giants in this
category, as mentioned previously, control the lion’s share of this market. Each of these vendors
can provide standalone BPS solutions as individual products or suites, and can also align these
products with their major technology assets in applications and platforms.

· ERP vendors focus on their applications base. Infor’s Performance Management solution,
formerly a best-of-breed product (Geac/Comshare), has some traction independent of its
diverse ERP applications installed base. However, Infor most often provides it as a cross-
sell or upsell to complement its core applications. Lawson generally sells its budgeting and
dashboarding products to its ERP base. The outlier in this category, Longview Solutions,
operates as an independent unit focusing on larger customers, while its parent company, Exact
Software, focuses on the small and medium-size business (SMB) ERP market.

· Business intelligence vendors emphasize platforms and tools. SAS Institute is the only
member of this group that offers a comprehensive set of BPS offerings. While the SAS offerings
are well-integrated with one another, it is also the leading player in cost and profitability
solutions as a discrete offering. The other three BI vendors listed — Actuate, Information
Builders, and MicroStrategy — focus their BPS efforts on enterprise performance and strategy
measurement, with less emphasis on the financial domain components.

· BPS pure plays focus on market niches. Vendors in this category range from comprehensive
BPS to point-solution providers, yet share a common strategy to differentiate themselves from

January 20, 2009

11

the larger market leaders. European-based Board International (Switzerland) and Tagetik
(Italy) now seek growth in other markets, including the US. Clarity Systems has a strong
budgeting and planning solution along with a differentiated external financial statement and
regulatory product, Clarity FSR. Adaptive Planning and Host Analytics provide SaaS solutions
in an historical on-premise market. PROPHIX Software offers a budgeting and performance
management solution for SMBs. Specialist vendors in this bucket include Acorn Systems (cost
and profitability) along with many others.

Figure 5 BPS vendors By Type

• Acorn Systems
• Adaptive Planning
• Board International
• IBM Cognos • Actuate • Clarity Systems
• Microsoft • Infor • Information Builders • Host Analytics
• Oracle • Lawson Software • MicroStrategy • PROPHIX Software
• SAP* • Longview Solutions† • SAS Institute • Tagetik

Diversiﬁed ERP Business BPS
technology intelligence pure plays
leaders
*Though primarily an ERP software vendor, SAP has substantial business intelligence (e.g., Business Objects) and
middleware assets
Longview Solutions is owned by Exact Software, an ERP software company, but continues to operate as an
†

independent BPS provider.
46571



Figure 6 Guide To BPS vendors And Products

Planning, Cost and
budgeting, and Financial Strategy and proﬁtability
Vendor Key product(s) forecasting consolidation measurement management

• Acorn Performance
Acorn
Systems • Acorn Price Analyzer

• Actuate Performancesoft
Views
Actuate
• Actuate Performancesoft
Track

Adaptive • Adaptive Planning 5.0
Planning

Board • BOARD Management
International Intelligence Toolkit

• Clarity 6
Clarity
Systems • Clarity FSR

• Host Corporate
Host Analytics Performance Management
(CPM)

• IBM Cognos 8 Planning
IBM Cognos • IBM Cognos 8 Controller
• IBM Cognos 8 BI

• Infor Performance
Infor Management (PM)

• WebFOCUS Performance
Metrics Manager (PMM)
Information
• WebFOCUS Performance
Builders
Management Framework
(PMF)
46571

January 20, 2009

13

Figure 6 Guide To BPS vendors And Products (Cont.)

Planning, Cost and

• Lawson EPM (Enterprise
Performance Management)
Lawson
Software • Lawson Budgeting &
Planning

• Khalix by Longview
Longview Solutions
Solutions
• Longview 7 (future release)

• Microsoft Office
Microsoft PerformancePoint Server
2007

MicroStrategy • MicroStrategy Business
Intelligence Platform

• Oracle Hyperion Planning
• Oracle Hyperion Financial
Management (HFM)
• Oracle Business Intelligence
Oracle
Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
• Oracle Hyperion Profitability
and Cost Management
• Oracle Crystal Ball

• PROPHIX Performance
Management
PROPHIX
Software • PROPHIX Budgeting and
Reporting

• SAP Business Planning and
Consolidation (BPC)
• SAP Strategy Management
SAP • BusinessObjects Profitability
and Cost Management
• BusinessObjects Financial
Consolidation
46571



Figure 6 Guide To BPS vendors And Products (Cont.)

Planning, Cost and
• SAS Strategic Performance
Management
• SAS Activity-Based
SAS Institute Management
• SAS Proﬁtability
Management
• SAS Financial Management

Tagetik • Tagetik 3.0

46571

r E C O m m E n D AT i O n S

LeARn FROM BeST PRACTICeS TO AVOID IMPLeMenTATIOn RISkS
A large body of knowledge and experience has emerged from other successful performance
management initiatives that can improve success and time to value. Some best practices include:

· Use a burning platform that accelerates time-to-value. Successful business performance
initiatives occur when a business imperative drives organizational commitment and a sense
of urgency. The current economic climate provides ample impetus to improve planning and
measurement processes and systems. Other types of burning platforms include regulatory
changes, major acquisitions, company restructuring, and so on.
· Look at the road ahead to drive performance. running the business with lagging
indicators and historical accounting information leaves too much to chance. Companies
should engineer performance processes that include forecasting and measurement of
leading indicators to stay ahead of the competition.
· Put monetary rewards behind performance measures at all levels of the organization.
A performance management best practice is to put rewards in place to properly motivate
people. These incentives need to be straightforward and transparent, as well as frequent
enough (e.g., quarterly) to keep people engaged.
· Begin with pilot projects to tune performance measures for the desired results.
Performance systems need to evolve through internal experience and experimentation to
produce the desired results. you should network with external peers and expert resources to
understand successes and failures.

January 20, 2009

15

W H AT i T m E A n S

MARkeT COnSOLIDATIOn LeAVeS THe DOOR OPen FOR InnOVATIOn
The market events of the past few years leave us with four of the largest technology vendors on
the planet — iBm, microsoft, Oracle, and SAP — in control of market share. While Oracle and SAP
battle for supremacy in this space, microsoft has the highest potential to gain market share. With
a newer solution set leveraging its microsoft Office franchise, microsoft will gain traction among
organizations of various sizes, including large enterprises. iBm Cognos, meanwhile, has embarked
on a road map to refresh some of its aging assets. yet, among these leading players, none have
built their entire solution set from the ground up and each faces a unique set of challenges to
integrate, innovate, or mature their product sets.

Organizations desire less costly solutions that more closely match their needs. Potentially viable
alternative choices include functional (e.g., planning and costing) and industry-specific point
solutions, SaaS solutions, and simpler products targeted toward smaller organizations. Smaller
BPS vendors that are: 1) technically innovative; 2) less costly to own; 3) quicker to deploy; and 4)
focused on solving specific business problems, will continue to make their mark.

SUPPLeMenTAL MATeRIAL
Companies Interviewed For This Document
Actuate Lawson Software
Adaptive Planning Longview Solutions
Board International Microsoft
Clarity Systems MicroStrategy
Host Analytics Oracle
IBM Cognos SAP
Infor SAS Institute
Information Builders Tagetik



enDnOTeS
Forrester assessed 10 leading business performance solutions vendors across 83 criteria in a product
1

evaluation. Additional point-solution vendors not covered in this evaluation might be worth considering
as well, depending on priorities and current capabilities. See the October 10, 2007, “The Forrester Wave™:
Business Performance Solutions, Q4 2007” report.

Metrics influence actions and decisions, whether used explicitly to influence behaviors or simply to report
2

results. Source: John R. Hauser and Gerald M. Katz, Metrics: You Are What You Measure, MIT Sloan School
of Management, 1998.

Employee performance solutions is the fastest growing product segment within HR and HCM applications,
3

with a forecasted 17% growth rate through 2011. See the January 7, 2008, “HR/HCM Applications 2008:
Best-Of-Breed Solutions Make A Comeback” report.

Performance management and measurement will top many priority lists, driven in part by a focus of
4

enterprises to drive risk management into business decisions. See the November 21, 2008, “Trends 2009:
Financial Performance Management” report.

SAP was faced with a rather complicated BPS road map as a result of the Business Objects acquisition. See
5

the April 1, 2008, “SAP Unveils Its Starting Lineup For Business Performance Solutions” report.

January 20, 2009

making leaders Successful Every Day

Headquarters Research and Sales Offices
Forrester Research, Inc. Israel
Australia
400 Technology Square Japan
Brazil
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Korea
Canada
Tel: +1 617.613.6000 The Netherlands
Denmark
Fax: +1 617.613.5000 Switzerland
France
Email: forrester@forrester.com United Kingdom
Germany
Nasdaq symbol: FORR United States
Hong Kong
www.forrester.com India

For a complete list of worldwide locations,
visit www.forrester.com/about.

For information on hard-copy or electronic reprints, please contact Client Support
at +1 866.367.7378, +1 617.613.5730, or clientsupport@forrester.com.
We offer quantity discounts and special pricing for academic and nonprofit institutions.

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR)
is an independent research company
that provides pragmatic and forward-
thinking advice to global leaders in
business and technology. Forrester
works with professionals in 19 key roles
at major companies providing
proprietary research, consumer insight,
consulting, events, and peer-to-peer
executive programs. For more than 25
years, Forrester has been making IT,
marketing, and technology industry
leaders successful every day. For more
information, visit www.forrester.com.

46571

Business Performance Solutions Clash Of The Titans The Market Remains Vibrant Following Vendor Consolidation

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (18)

En vedette

En vedette (20)

Similaire à Business Performance Solutions Clash Of The Titans The Market Remains Vibrant Following Vendor Consolidation

Similaire à Business Performance Solutions Clash Of The Titans The Market Remains Vibrant Following Vendor Consolidation (20)

Plus de Cezar Cursaru

Plus de Cezar Cursaru (13)

Business Performance Solutions Clash Of The Titans The Market Remains Vibrant Following Vendor Consolidation