Closing the Intelligence Gap - Gary Cokins on Performance Management

It is not that often that I totally agree with the views about Performance Management written by an IT analyst or consultant. I do mainly agree with the position of Markus Sprenger, a consultant with Avanade, in his article "Surviving Economic Downturns with Performance Management and Business Intelligence Solutions." Markus states:

The problem with the typical business responses to harsh economic conditions, however, is that they don’t always go far enough – and are often influenced more by immediate business pain than longer range planning that can help a business not only get through the rough period, but also emerge with stronger processes in place. … In fact, (business intelligence and enterprise performance management) solutions can not only help a company ride out hard economic times, but also put it in a better position when business picks up again. They can help improve discrete processes as well as the overall corporate culture, resulting in short-term gains and long-term, foundational benefits.

Well said, Marcus. What I like most about his article is his numerous references of the term "integrated." Too often business methods like scorecards, profitability reporting and analytics are implemented in isolation of each other. There is synergy when they are unified.

A critique I have of Markus’ article is his not emphasizing the power of predictive analytics and enterprise risk management. I view these as included in the Performance Management framework; and I elaborate on these thoughts in the conclusion of my article What Will be the Next Management Breakthrough?