Cognos MD McWilliam to address Africa`s top BI conference

Corporate performance management (CPM) was specifically developed to provide executive management with the capability to strategise, plan, monitor and adapt to the realities of the business world. At this year`s Business Intelligence World Africa conference - which takes place from 2 to 4 November at the Sandton Convention Centre - David McWilliam, MD of Cognos South Africa, will share some of Cognos`s insights into BI and CPM, markets in which Cognos is the world leader.

"Business Intelligence World Africa is the continent`s foremost director-level conference, providing key business intelligence strategies and solutions for companies operating in today`s information-driven economy," says McWilliam. "Tackling the latest trends in the business intelligence market, the conference is set to provide the African market with vital strategic information, and will highlight the commercial gains to be achieved by implementing an integrated BI strategy across the organisation."

The event will cover: data and data quality; enterprise portals and their ability to maximise customer satisfaction; enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications complementing business intelligence; and Basel II and its connection to business intelligence.

McWilliam`s presentation, entitled "BI, a cornerstone of corporate performance management", will cover the following areas:

* An introduction to CPM as a business concept.

* The challenges to measuring up against performance dynamics.

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* The components of CPM and the role business intelligence plays.

* Using BI to turn vast amounts of data into meaningful understanding about the business.

"The Cognos approach to CPM is compelling in that we have recognised there is no such thing as a standard CPM solution," says McWilliam. "Our solutions are tailored to fit the individual requirements of each organisation. This is what distinguishes our methodology and how we cement the relationship between business intelligence, knowledge management and competitive intelligence."

The conference will enable delegates to optimise their business processes by listening to market leaders and keynote speakers such as Jonathan Calof, director of the Canadian Institute of Competitive Intelligence, and Koffi Kouakou, director of Timbuktu Ventures in Cote d`Ivoire. Delegates will also have the opportunity learn from current business intelligence case studies.