GBI, the business intelligence subsidiary of JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology, has identified a new, convergent opportunity in the business intelligence market and structured its portfolio of offerings and internal competencies so as to be able to deliver against it.
This opportunity has been driven out of the correlation between clients` need to know what is happening in their businesses, and what is driving these occurrences; and the ongoing pursuit of linking strategy with execution.
This, says GBI CEO Marc Scheepbouwer, is in line with organisations` understanding that key performance indicators can only succeed where they are informed by best practices; data is supported by processes; and traditional lagging-indicator reporting is enhanced with leading indicators.
GBI`s ability to play in this space is unique. It has assembled three of the most compelling solutions in the market to deliver on this opportunity and coupled it with 15 years` worth of experience and expertise:
* Hyperion, the global leader in business performance management (BPM) software, which is widely viewed as the critical link between strategy and execution, linking strategic planning, consolidated budgeting and forecasting, financial management, query and analysis, monitoring, reporting and the balanced scorecard against a single version of the truth. Through its acquisition of Brio last year, Hyperion has significantly enhanced its overall value proposition.
* Metify, the world`s leading activity-based management (ABM) suite of tools, from Armstrong-Laing. ABM has come to be regarded as a revolutionary way of managing business, as it provides key insights into critical business drivers. It allows management to identify, understand and decompose costs, and then to recommend corrective actions in terms of changed and enhanced business processes.
* SPSS, one of the world`s leading predictive analytics vendors, for whose solutions GBI has been appointed the local premier reseller. SPSS helps companies identify areas for improvement and profit enhancement, specifically as data relates to people activities.
"These three solutions, applied together, give management the ability to analyse corporate costs, find pressure points and areas of pain, and suggest corrective action," says Scheepbouwer. "Other business intelligence offerings may provide components of insight, and assist management to improve their day-to-day running of the business, but the ability to understand costs, correctly aligned with activities, provides the critical `what-next?` call to action missing from other offerings.
"In this regard, our joint solutions are the only ones in the market that allow organisations to improve their data, along with the associated processes, so arriving at a business that can function optimally."
This combined solution set has made GBI the undoubted leader in both the area of business intelligence and BPM. In addition, GBI is one of the leading resellers, through its relationship with local distributor CenterField Software, of Ascential Software`s suite of data integration tools: these ensure consistency of data between source and target systems.
"The combination of BPM and ABM is compelling for business," says Scheepbouwer. "ABM on its own provides a piece of the business management puzzle, but if it stands in isolation of the overall corporate lifecycle, as a separate activity, its value can be reduced. This is where BPM can add supreme value to ABM, making it an integral part of the manner in which executives steer the business and discharge their governance duties."
ABM addresses the critical issue of leading, rather than lagging indicators: lagging are those which are reported on significantly after the event, such as financial reporting by the quarter, half-year or year, and which are often produced so late as to be meaningless in terms of management`s ability to respond timeously. Leading indicators, in turn, are those which precede or accompany performance and can thus have a positive impact on it. ABM can also assist in transforming budgeting from a reactive to a proactive process.
"Strategy, the executive imperative, is about the future, while managers concern themselves with execution, the present and the immediate past, with tactical issues, such as business review," says Scheepbouwer.
"Accordingly, the integration of these two enablers can bring businesses closer to the goal of bridging the gap between strategy and execution."
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