Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, IS Partners, is bringing to market a corporate performance management (CPM) solution that draws together the strength and prevalence of the Microsoft platform and the company`s partnership agreement with OutlookSoft.
OutlookSoft develops and supports business performance management software. The software`s principal allure is that it offers a unified, Microsoft-based CPM solution that delivers core functionality from a single platform and application.
Microsoft is also the established number-one OLAP player, which eliminates the need for proprietary technology to support the performance management application. The same platform can effectively be used for the key areas of CPM, such as strategic planning, scorecarding, business modelling, compliance, analysis, as well as budgeting, forecasting and consolidated reporting.
With many traditional CPM tools available only to top management before, performance management capabilities can now be implemented across the organisation, achieving buy-in to the corporate strategy.
"We have identified a strong market opportunity for CPM in SA, and OutlookSoft fulfilled our requirement for a technology partner to deliver CPM solutions to prospective customers. It offers a modular implementation approach to CPM while being reliant on a commoditised platform," says G"unter Richter, Business Productivity Advisor at IS Partners.
Globally, CPM adoption rates have been accelerated by the availability of solutions such as OutlookSoft, which leverage the Microsoft platform on both the database and front-end side. This ensures easier adoption for users accustomed to their front-end tools, while offering the ability to retain the control and security of the existing database and business rules.
Richter says the need to measure and execute on all areas of the business is becoming increasingly apparent. "Compliance requirements in light of many recent accounting scandals indicate that organisations have to more than ever focus on fulfilling their statutory requirements, but finance remains riddled with complexity.
"Business is looking to finance for information more than they would have traditionally. Finance departments could be adding more strategic value, but they need the tools that will empower them to provide this value-added service to the business."
While any CPM implementation aims to make management more efficient by bringing about a re-focus on strategic components, the OutlookSoft solution buys into the reality that finance likes to "live" in Excel.
"OutlookSoft will, for example, ensure the comfort and familiarity of Excel is retained while converting this to a more controlled environment for proper forecasting and planning, and the assurance that information is accurate and believable," says Richter.
In the last five years, business automation attended to the operational side of the business, with core management processes being largely neglected. This can, and has led to dramatic mistakes that cost organisations millions in penalties and inefficiencies.
Richter says these departments need to look at the systems and methodologies that will best resolve the Excel "hell" that is contributing to both the direct and indirect costs associated with transparency and disclosure.
OutlookSoft`s core business model is for the local operation to supply the technology and for partners to provide the implementation capability. "We are partnering with companies in SA that are well established in the business intelligence (BI) and CPM space," says Allan Saffy, MD of OutlookSoft South Africa.
"Being selective in terms of our partners, we look for solution providers with a strong skills base from a technical perspective, as well as demonstrating a thorough understanding of CPM principles. IS Partners has exceeded our expectations with a very strong track record in terms of existing implementations, which will drive our successes in providing CPM solutions."
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Established in 2001, IS Partners addresses the need for quality implementations of Microsoft solutions. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for business intelligence, IS Partners specialises in empowering sales, marketing, financial and management in its customer base. This includes various industries such as retail, distribution, finance and IT.
IS Partners uses its own proven, streamlined methodology for all implementations. It also specialises in bringing bottom line value to CRM systems, providing business analysis, technical design, application architecture, implementation, training and performance tuning of CRM implementations on the Microsoft platform and Microsoft`s own CRM solution.
For more information, go to www.ispartners.co.za.