A recent study conducted by the MIT Centre for Digital Business, in conjunction with McKinsey, revealed that data-driven companies have 4% higher productivity and 6% higher profit than companies that are not data-driven. This increased productivity and profit could make an enormous difference to companies that identify the importance of data-driven decision-making.
“The only way to get the most out of your data and make data-driven decisions is to ensure that your enterprise performance management (EPM) system is adequately aligned to your overall business strategy,” says EOH Softworx director of Performance Management, Steven Joffe.
“At present, 70% of EPM solutions do not achieve their original objectives. This is because, while technically the solutions are sound, they do not actually address the organisation's needs,” explains Joffe. “Many organisations allow different departments to select a solution that does not necessarily support the company's overall business strategy, and as a result, do not align key performance indicators to their business strategy.”
After years of EPM systems, there is still a gap between IT and real business strategy. Company departments feel that IT is not partnering with business to develop new capabilities supported by technology. “This is not because the technology is not useful, but because it has not been adequately aligned to deliver quantifiable improvements in productivity and profits,” says Joffe.
In general, the southern African market is quite immature, with most businesses using a multitude of tools for similar requirements in different business areas. Internationally, we have found there to be a greater understanding of business requirements and solutions, and how these tie into the organisation's business strategy. International clients are also looking for the value add that EPM solutions can provide, whereas local clients are usually just wanting to automate current processes or replace manual systems,” says Joffe.
What is often beneficial is for companies to use multiple systems to fulfil their overall EPM requirements. It is vital though, to ensure that these are all aligned to the company's overall business strategy. The solution needs to be decided on and bought into at directorship level, and then implemented into the business as a continuous process to ensure successful implementation. The continuous process will help to align the business users and the company strategy, as well as the change management of business users through the process.
EPM systems have an important role to play in helping organisations to make data-driven decisions and increase company productivity and profit. However, there is still a need for increased alignment between EPM solutions and real business strategy in order to make this a reality.
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Softworx
Softworx is a successful South African business applications company that prides itself in being able to deliver world-class products to its extensive customer base, which includes a number of Fortune 500 companies. In addition, Softworx supports clients in industries ranging from manufacturing, retail, distribution, and financial, to supporting various government entities. The company is dedicated to marketing, implementing and providing support for its range of complimentary software products to medium and large enterprises that require effective solutions to optimise their business processes.
Softworx has positioned itself as a leading provider of business applications in South Africa, specialising in end-to-end business solutions. The company prides itself on being able to deliver true value to its customers through the implementation of business solutions based on a powerful combination of leading-edge products and consultancy. As a wholly owned subsidiary of EOH, Softworx has increased the number of services and products that can be offered to its customers from within the group.
EOH
Listed company EOH is the largest enterprise applications provider in SA and one of the top five IT service providers. EOH follows the consulting, technology and outsourcing model to provide high value, end-to-end solutions to its clients in all industry verticals. For more information, visit: http://www.eoh.co.za.
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