Predictions for Performance Management in 2020
Craig Schiff , President and CEO, BPM Partners
Analytics Will Become a Standard Component of Performance Management Solutions: Planning has become a company-wide initiative, which in turn has created the need for the right tools to help understand and derive value from this ever-increasing pool of data. The solution is powerful, yet business-friendly analytic capabilities. Today, many performance management vendors provide a generic capability to share data with analytics solutions already in use, or offer basic integration with a handful of third parties. We believe what’s next is for each vendor to offer their own robust analytic solution (in-house developed or acquired), or offer seamless integration with a chosen third-party partner.
Vendors Leading the Way: Axiom Software, Board, IBM, Jedox, Longview, Oracle, SAP, Unit4 Prevero
More Vendors Will Introduce Vertical Solutions: We have always believed in the value of industry-specific solutions. Out of the box content and vendor expertise leads to a faster time to payback, lower implementation costs, a shorter learning curve, and lower risk. So why doesn’t every vendor offer vertical solutions? Two reasons – hiring industry experts to develop the content and support the sales and implementation processes can be costly, and most vendors are afraid of losing the ability to sell to industries outside of their chosen verticals. However, they may no longer have a choice when it comes to certain industries. Financial Services companies for example focus their vendor search almost entirely on those who specialize in their industry. Most companies, regardless of industry, prefer vendors with demonstrated expertise in their vertical. We believe it’s time for more vendors to start down this path.
Vendors Leading the Way: Axiom Software (financial services, healthcare, higher education), Questica (government/public services, education, healthcare, not for profit), Unit4 Prevero (professional services, government/public services, higher education, not for profit)
Demand for Comprehensive Midmarket Solutions Will Continue to Grow: While companies of all sizes pursue performance management initiatives, every year we see increasing demand in the midmarket. In particular, there is a need for robust and comprehensive solutions. Midmarket organizations may be resource constrained, but their solution requirements are very similar to their larger peers. The fact that many of these companies are in rapid growth mode also adds a level of complexity. However, any solution needs to be cost-effective in addition to being very capable. As some former midmarket vendors have moved upstream (through acquisition, marketing focus, or pricing) there is a need/opportunity for more vendors in this market segment.
Vendors Leading the Way: Host Analytics, Jedox, Prophix, Vena Solutions
The Need for High Performance Engines Will Increase: As companies expand their use of performance management to more departments and more users the amount of data will increase dramatically. In addition, even those organizations that remain Finance focused are doing more detailed analysis of product and service profitability as well as bringing more transaction level data into the system. All of this requires a more powerful and scalable database engine to provide acceptable performance. Performance testing has become a final proof step for many organizations today. We believe those vendors that have not yet upgraded their systems to provide a high-performance, scalable, elastic, memory-driven engine will need to do so to stay competitive.
Vendors Leading the Way: Adaptive Insights, CCH Tagetik, deFacto Global, Longview, OneStream Software, Questica, Vena Solutions, SAP
Several trends previously identified by us will continue to accelerate in 2020:
The Expansion of AI
Vendors Leading the Way: Board, deFacto Global, Jedox, OneStream Software, Unit4 Prevero
Focus on Ease of Use
Vendors Leading the Way: CCH Tagetik, Jedox, OneStream Software, Vena Solutions, XLerant
Need for Robust Consolidation Capabilities
Vendors Leading the Way: Board, CCH Tagetik, deFacto Global, Host Analytics, Longview, OneStream Software, Oracle
To see some of the underlying data these predictions are based on request a copy of the 2019 BPM Pulse Survey results.
For more information on any of the vendors listed visit PerformancePlace.
