Small steps to big improvements

So just what is it that makes a successful user of performance management software? Financial performance, market share, efficiency improvements, share value, cost savings…are all viable measures of success. But as we know, a business comprises many parts and key performance measures are often combinations of small successes that build upon each other to deliver a corporate goal. Sometimes it’s also nice to hear about these small successes.

Last week I met with a customer that I haven’t seen for a while to talk about their business and how they were using their performance management system. As we spoke it became clear that they were very happy with the software system and were doing some interesting things that enable them to improve the way they run their business.

My attention peaked when the conversation turned to data integration, a subject close to my heart as it presently the focus of much of my work. I was interested to learn that they were not only integrating data from source systems to their performance management application, but also integrating individual performance management applications - in this instance planning and costing. This was great to hear, because it showed that they had innovated their system usage to draw business advantages from integrated systems, and while they were only exchanging simple data this was already providing tangible business benefits primarily in terms of timeliness and accuracy that would help them make quicker and better decsions. In addition they had saved some time and ultimately cost from what had previously been a manual process. Now of course this is just one small success, in one department of this large organization, but knowing this customer it’s not the only small success. It’s one of many.

As the software industry starts to create business systems that support closed loop performance management this kind of success story will become commonplace and SAP BusinessObjects Financial Information Management is going to be an important part of an EPM deployment for many SAP users. Big or small, we should reflect on our improvements and successes along the way, because it’s in these small steps that we will build a foundation for continuing success.