Applix named leader in business performance management tools

MCI Consultants, the sole distributor for Applix`s TM1 product in SA, today announced that the latter was featured in an independent assessment of leading BPM solutions, suites, tools and vendors.

Applix was named a leader in the tools category by BPM Partners during its annual `Beyond the Hype` Webcast.

(To view the Webcast, click here)

"Applix has been focusing on real-time analysis using its TM1 engine and has proven features for planning and analysis, commented Craig Schiff, President and CEO, BPM Partners. "Applix`s new product, TM1 Web, is a strong addition to the line-up; it enables the publishing of interactive Excel spreadsheets to the Web for both data collection and reporting tied to a TM1 database."

BPM is the collection of processes and business measures that enable a business to manage its performance. The processes include planning, consolidation and management reporting, operational analytics and scorecarding. Of Applix`s solutions, BPM Partners highlights TM1`s analytics with instant response times, budgeting, online analytical processing (OLAP), reporting and query, extract transfer and load (ETL), and its Web interface.

Other vendors assessed in this Webcast, co-sponsored by Business Finance Magazine, are Hyperion, Cognos, Geac, SAP, FRx, Longview, Outlooksoft, SRC Software, Active Strategy, Conquest Systems, CorVu, PBViews, Pilot Software, Cartesis, INEA, Acorn and Satori Group. These vendors and Applix present a wide variety of options for BPM implementations.

According to the BPM Partners` Webcast, the adoption of BPM is growing steadily: one-third of companies surveyed recently (1) have BPM initiatives in progress and one-quarter have plans for BPM. BPM is being utilised in large and mid-sized companies across all industries and geographies. The efforts are largely led by finance departments, with insight and input from the IT departments. Companies are realising, or expect to realise many benefits from BPM, including: `one version of the truth,` Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, bottom line impact and a focus on key metrics.

"As companies examine their options for BPM, it`s important to avoid the pitfalls of costly, large IT projects," added David Menninger, vice-president of worldwide marketing, Applix, Inc. "As the leading independent authority on BPM adoption and implementation projects worldwide, BPM Partners` evaluation, Webcast and free online tools provide a credible review of the solutions available to customers, helping to ensure success with BPM projects. According to BPM Partners, Applix`s software is particularly helpful for real-time interactive planning and analysis."

"This recognition comes on the heels of a groundswell of recent accolades from the analyst and editorial communities," continued Menninger. "Applix has been publicly recognised in vendor assessments, industry surveys and `top lists` from Gartner (2), The OLAP Survey 3(3), DM Review (4) and Intelligent Enterprise (5). We are glad the influencers are listening to our customers and recognising the value of Applix`s software."

TM1 is a proven, multidimensional analytics platform for powering strategic analysis of financial, transactional, operational and other business data. TM1 has been named as a leader in the tools category of the BPM Buyer`s Guide in Business Finance Magazine and scored the highest rating in goal achievement and performance in Nigel Pendse`s OLAP 3 Survey (www.survey.com/olap).

(1) BPM Partners conducted the `2003 BPM Pulse Survey,` which detailed findings from more than 215 end-user companies. (http://www.bpmpartners.com/bpmcentraLwhitepapfrs.shtml)

(2) Gartner, Inc, `Magic Quadrant for CPM Suites: No Leaders in 2003,` L. Geishecker, F. Buytendijk, B. Wood, October 2003. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted October 2003 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner`s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

(3) TM1 was named the best performing analytics engine in The OLAP Survey 3, November, 2003, p. 226-7. The OLAP Survey 3, the largest and most detailed survey of OLAP products to date, is a quantifiable survey of the $3.5 billion OLAP market. The Survey, conducted by Nigel Pendse and Survey.com, analysed data from 1 047 OLAP sites in 48 countries, (www.survey.com/olap)

(4) 2003 DM Review 100, Business Intelligence Vendors, December 2003.

(5) Intelligent Enterprise, "Company to Watch," December 2003.

For further information, please contact Aliki Droussiotis, MCI: tel (011) 454 3420, fax (011) 454 3417, e-mail aliki@mci.co.za