Released on = September 21, 2006, 6:25 am

Press Release Author = CODA

Industry = Small Business

Press Release Summary = . The line between CPM and BI is blurred
. Companies are using BI to manage corporate performance
. Many applications are difficult to use and expensive

Press Release Body = CODA Group, the finance systems specialist, today outlined its
predictions for the Business Intelligence (BI) and Performance Management market
which it believes is struggling to find an identity. CODA believes that the
functionality and marketing of applications needs to be simplified if they are to be
successful.
Jeremy Roche, CEO of CODA, said: "Much of the hype around Corporate Performance
Management (CPM), a term coined by industry analysts is confusing. The messaging
provides little differentiation from that of the BI tools vendors. Because the
essence of Performance Management is methodology for the structured use of analytic
applications and BI tools, this isn't really a surprise. But it makes life very
confusing for businesses looking to address performance management issues. Despite
all the hype in recent years, most companies are only just starting to put in place
performance management systems - partly because many of these solutions are only
just becoming usable and affordable, but also because of the over complex way our
industry markets its solutions."
More recently, other companies like Microsoft have also acknowledged the confusion
in the market and have responded by releasing more affordable tools that integrate
with desk-top applications so that anyone can use them, including SMEs and
non-technical business staff.
The pressure on businesses to deliver a true picture of how they are performing is
growing, to satisfy requirements for corporate and statutory transparency. CODA
believes that Performance Management must be approached in a dynamic form that
enables real-time analysis of the business at a detailed level, so that patterns can
be watched and behaviours can be changed to improve performance.
"Financial analytics and the way companies approach performance management change
all the time, driven by greater demand for seamless business operations," continued
Jeremy Roche. "Companies implementing BI strategies should:
. Understand their business issues and work out which they can affect and which they
can't.
. Consider what they can measure and what they can't.
. Decide which areas will have the biggest impact on the business, and rank them
from most influential over key issues to least.
. Focus on a small number of those areas, making sure the whole business knows these
are critical issues and that everyone is responsible for improvements.
. Put in place systems that actively effect change and evaluate the change programme
regularly."
ABOUT CODA
CODA creates, markets and implements the most complete range of software systems
designed specifically to meet the needs of corporate Finance Officers and Finance
Departments. These include financial management systems, analysis applications, and
business process management and control software to implement compliance solutions.
Its service oriented architecture also makes CODA software easy for clients and
other vendors to integrate it with their business applications.
CODA was founded in 1979, has around 550 employees working from 13 global locations.
CODA software is designed for multi-currency, multi-language, multi-country,
multi-company and multi-site operations, and is used by around 2,600 organizations
in over 100 countries and within both public and commercial sectors.


Web Site = http://www.coda.com

Contact Details = Emma Hoyle||Beckwith Head Road-Cardale Park ||Harrogate , HG3
1RY||$$country||||44-01423-537-977||Emma.hoyle@coda.com||http://www.coda.com