Why Performance Management and Business Intelligence are Crucial at this Moment

Howard Dresner wrote recently in his blog, a nice post called Why Performance Management and Business Intelligence are Crucial at this Moment, where he told about the importance of use BI/PM to direct the companies to make better decisions during the world crisis.

He said: "the wise organization carefully analyzes the current threat, developing multiple scenarios for the future and creates suitable short and long term plans. This forward-thinking approach allows management to proceed strategically, with an eye to the future, but still grounded in the present." and "EPM and BI are critical during this time. This is true. However, I don’t mean just the technology. I mean the philosophy! This begins with transparency and accountability. Without those as core tenets of an organization, the best technology won’t help. However, under the right conditions, BI and EPM can work wonders – allowing an organization to quickly develop perspective, to assess strengths, weaknesses and capabilities."



Gary Cokins commented: "It baffles me why some organizations hesitate to apply business intelligence (BI) tools and the performance management methodologies that convert BI’s potential into realized results."

Neil Raden commented: "You're of course right that many organizations will take the knee-jerk approach and cut expenses. Despite all of our exhortations, '09 will probably be a weak year for BI/EPM software. I hope I'm wrong." I also hope Neil Raden is wrong, but unfortunately I agree with him, because I also think 2009 will be a weak year for BI/PM software.

I agree with Howard Dresner, PM and BI are critical during this time, and increasingly important the companies to use BI/PM to make better decisions. Mainly because of the crisis, with the companies cutting costs and decreasing budgets, they should think of BI/PM not only as a cost, but a necessary investment to help them to drive their companies to an effectively strategic management.

Indeed, I think there are some ways for companies save money and reduce BI/PM costs without affecting their business objectives. I believe that companies should consolidate existing solutions and projects, or to develop new solutions using their already purchased BI/PM softwares (I am considering companies that have good BI/PM tools). Thus, the companies can save money on software, hardware and training, and don't fall into the trap of buying one more BI tool. However, if the companies really need to adquire tools, Open Source Business Intelligence (OSBI) or Software as a Service (SaaS) can be good choices to be evaluated.