Gary Cokins is an internationally recognized expert, speaker, and author in advanced cost management and performance improvement systems. He is the founder of Analytics-Based Performance Management LLC, an advisory firm at www.garycokins.com. For 16 years Gary was previously a principal consultant of global business advisory services involved with performance management solutions with SAS, a leading provider of performance management and business analytics software headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. Gary received a BS degree with honors in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research from Cornell University in 1971. He received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1974. Gary began his career as a financial controller and operations manager for FMC Corporation, and he has been a management consultant with Deloitte, KPMG, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Gary’s third book, Activity Based Cost Management: An Executive’s Guide has ranked #1 in its topic on Amazon.com. He has written Activity Based Cost Management in Government (ISBN 1-056726-110-8). His two most recent books are Performance Management: Finding the Missing Pieces to Close the Intelligence Gap (ISBN 0-471-57690-5) and Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics (ISBN 978-0-470-44998-1). Mr. Cokins can be reached at gcokins@garycokins.com.
Organizations often complain that they are drowning in data but starving for information. What they are seeking is insight and foresight from the treasure chest of raw and transactional data they already have combined with other information widely available. Business intelligence (BI) software tools have been presumed as the solution;
