Mark Smith's Analyst Perspectives

IBM Making Billion-Dollar Bet on Kenexa for Social Business and Talent Management

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 29, 2012 10:59:54 AM

IBM has announced its intention to acquire Kenexa as part of IBM Smarter Workforce initiative and social business software division. It’s a billion-dollar-plus investment to bolster IBM’s social business and give the company more depth in the human capital management software market that comprises human resources, talent management and workforce management. A lot of surface-level analysis I’ve seen on this announcement is not worth reading, but the deeper review below may help Kenexa and IBM customers, along with the market at large, and understand the implications of this announcement.

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Topics: Social Media, Human Capital Management, Kenexa, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Recruiting, Business Collaboration, Cloud Computing, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), IBM, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM), Talent Management, Workforce Performance Management (WPM)

The Stupidity of KPIs in Business Analytics

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 23, 2012 11:26:48 AM

In my last rant, on business analytics and the pathetic state of dashboards, I pointed out significant flaws in business intelligence software created by technology providers and in how it is being deployed by business and IT. Now I want to follow up with some insight on disconnects to a critical asset that is essential to the success of business analytics. I mean key performance indicators (KPIs), a term used in inaccurate ways that have diminished the value of the concept for business.

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Topics: Big Data, Social Media, Sustainability, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Location Intelligence, Operational Intelligence, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), Information Applications (IA), Information Management (IM), IT Performance Management (ITPM), Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM), Workforce Performance Management (WPM)

The Pathetic State of Dashboards

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 21, 2012 3:02:08 PM

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Topics: Big Data, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Analytics, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Business Mobility, CIO, Cloud Computing, Dashboards, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Location Intelligence, Operational Intelligence, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Expert Systems, Financial Performance Management (FPM), Information Applications (IA), Information Management (IM), IT Performance Management (ITPM), Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM), Workforce Performance Management (WPM)

Stibo Is Red Hot for Product Information Management

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 13, 2012 10:16:08 AM

When it comes to managing product information, organizations know they have room for improvement; only 27 percent trust their efforts completely, and less than a fifth (19%) are very satisfied with them. Almost half (48%) say they have too many incompatible tools, while 41 percent do not have a centralized information repository and 45 percent use a manual process to create a single complete, consistent and reliable product record. All of these facts and more from our product information management (PIM) benchmark indicate that businesses need a set of integrated processes and applications to meet their responsibilities. The benchmark found that adaptability, functionality and usability top technology and vendor considerations among the core components of our Value Index methodology.

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Topics: MDM, Operational Performance Management (OPM), PIM, Business Intelligence, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), Information Management (IM), Product Information Management, Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM)

Anaplan is on a Mission for Planning Driven Performance Management

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 10, 2012 11:31:14 AM

When it comes to the task of managing performance, many organizations still find themselves fixated on the past rather than planning for improvement in the future. When performance management processes operate efficiently, technology to support activities such as modeling and analytics can optimize outcomes and help align them to targeted goals and objectives. This might seem trivial or easily done, but the reality is that most organizations lack a unified platform that anyone in the enterprise can easily engage and leverage.

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Topics: Big Data, Performance Management, Planning, Sales, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Business Analytics, Cloud Computing, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), Business Performance Management (BPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), Sales Performance Management (SPM)

CIOs Need to Make Information Management a Real Priority

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 8, 2012 12:08:28 PM

Our recent benchmark research on information management uncovered some startling facts about the level of technology adoption necessary for efficient information-centric organizations. Chief information officers (CIO) are responsible for the availability of information to their businesses in a consistent and timely basis, but in most organizations, information management is seen as just a delegated set of tasks and is not the CIO’s top priority. This unfortunate outlook can have a lasting impact on the efficiency and profitability of a business.

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Topics: Big Data, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Business Analytics, CIO, Data Management, Information Management, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Data, Financial Performance Management (FPM), Information Applications (IA), Information Management (IM), IT

Product Information Management Is Hot for Business

Posted by Mark Smith on Aug 2, 2012 11:14:46 AM

Ventana Research has just released our 2012 Value Index for Product Information Management (PIM), in which we evaluate the competency and maturity of vendors and products. Our firm has been researching this software category for many years, and our latest benchmark research in product information management, coming out shortly, finds PIM software providing substantive benefits in new channels of interaction with suppliers and customers.

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Topics: Master Data Management, Sales, SAP, Enterworks, Hybris, Operational Performance Management (OPM), Stibo Systems, Webon, Business Analytics, Business Collaboration, Cloud Computing, Data Governance, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), IBM, Location Intelligence, Oracle, Business Performance Management (BPM), Customer Performance Management (CPM), Financial Performance Management (FPM), Heiler, Information Management (IM), Product Information Management, Riversand, Sales Performance Management (SPM), Supply Chain Performance Management (SCPM)