Business-Performance Management Gets A ForumBusiness-Performance Management Gets A Forum

An organization of IT users, vendors, and management consultants, unveiled Monday, will serve as a clearinghouse for new ideas and best practices in business-performance management. The Business Performance Management Forum will also promote the concept of business-performance management, organize regional roundtable conferences on the topic, and conduct surveys about adoption and practices.

Business-performance management is the use of business-intelligence software, financial-management applications, and other technologies to improve operational and financial performance by linking strategic planning with monitoring how operational plans are executed. AMR Research projects that corporate spending for business-performance management efforts will grow 23% a year and reach $12.2 billion by 2006.

More than 175 business executives have signed on with the forum. The independent advisory board that will govern the organization includes Brian Svenkeson, planning and reporting VP at PepsiCo/Quaker Oats; Ronald Lataille, finance VP at Verizon Communications; and Tim Stettheimer, VP and CIO at St. Vincent's Hospital. Also on the board are representatives from IT vendors, including IBM Business Consulting Services and Intuit; consultants from A.T. Kearney, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey & Co.; and other academics and industry notables.

Hyperion Solutions Corp., a major player in the business-performance management market, played a significant role in organizing the forum and provided an undisclosed amount of startup funding. Hyperion execs say the organization has other financial sponsors they cannot identify, and the forum will be independent, not a vehicle for Hyperion's marketing efforts.