Dave Kasabian's Pervasive Performance Management Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on Expert Opinion Beats Predictive Analytics

Dave Kasabian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:10:50 GMT

Southard. Thanks for the comment. I read your blog entry on the topic and particularly liked this statement:

"Unfortunately, no easy answer to this conundrum exists. The fact is that a statistical forecast is a valuable part of an overall forecast. It’s not the complete forecast, but it cannot be left out of the forecast"

It is the blended approach that we are both touting that will bring predictive analytics "to the masses". It needs to be seen as a part of the process, not the whole process. Otherwise, business users will resist it as a "big brother" type threat to their ability to manage the business.

Comment on Expert Opinion Beats Predictive Analytics

Southard Jones — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:05:06 GMT

Dave, you are absolutely correct. As a die-hard Phillies fan, I was ecstatic watching the Phillies shatter the predictive analytics crystal ball. However, as a believer in listening to forecasts from people who are closest to 'the market', like sales people in sales forecasting or commentators in baseball, I also had a sinking feeling the evil-empire Yankees would beat my beloved Phillies. From a business perspective, I’ve witnessed (see my blog) great companies utilize both statistical (predictive) forecasts and sales people forecasts together to get a complete trusted view of the future.

Comment on The Call for Tangible ROI

Dave Kasabian — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:21:20 GMT

This gives clients some great areas to focus their search for ROI and the potential savings there. I like the hypothetical example at the bottom of your blog. It hammers home the potential impact these systems can have. What we need next is the ability to provide real examples of companies that actually achieved the savings you provide in your example. These are harder to come by because clients have little motivation to go back and do the ROI after the fact.

Have you ever done the analysis like you did here on Steelcase but used the financials from the year before an EPM initiative was started and then the data from the year after it was completed. It would be interesting to see what the delta is in some of the measures you mention before and after the EPM solutions were in place.

Thanks for your thoughts. I think anyone building an ROI case can get some good nuggets from your example.

Comment on The Call for Tangible ROI

Ron Dimon — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:02:47 GMT

Dave! Great to find you on your blog. Looking forward to reading more.
As for ROI, we take a slightly different approach - have a look at this mini case study:
http://businessfoundation.typepad.com/bf_blog/2008/09/the-business-im.html

We work on showing how EPM (BPM, CPM, etc) impacts specific financial and operational results, including
- Revenue Growth
- Operating Margin
- COGS, SG&A expense
- Cash Cycle (DII, DSO, DII)
- Asset Utilization
and then show the possible ROI when measuring, monitoring, planning, analyzing, etc. has even a minimal impact on those.
What do you think?
All the best,
Ron

Comment on Building the Case for Business Intelligence in a Turbulent Economy

Dave Kasabian — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:34:25 GMT

Hi Peggy,
I don't think you were the only non-IBM client on the call but I think you question hammers home the point that many of the challenges for BI are not around the technology or the specific vendor. Yours is a cultural issue. Often higher education may perceive performance management (especially financially focused PM) to be in conflict with the ideals of the unversity. However, the financial situation can not be ignored. I don't know the specifics of your culture but from some quick research I see that your University has had to implement a furlough and salary reduction plan recently. I'm sure that was a painful process for the Provost and the Chancellor. I would start by looking back at the process they went through to make this decision. What data/information did they ask for? From whom? How long did it take to get? What was the level of effort to get it? What additional information could have allowed them to make more precise cuts? Are they comfortable that they had all the information they needed to make this major decision and are they confident it was accurate?

To me it comes down to finding out what their pain point is and defining how BI can address that. As well as the true cost to support the current decision-making process.

Anyone else have any advice for Peggy?

Comment on Building the Case for Business Intelligence in a Turbulent Economy

Peggy Kelly — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:26:14 GMT

Hi,
I think that I was the only non IBM participant for your webinar on 9/22. I work at a state university in California and the budget is more than tight right now. The problem with introducing BI in a university is that performance management is not at all part of the culture. We have done well at the Department and Division levels but are having great difficulty reaching the Provost and Chancellor levels. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Comment on IBM Earnings Highlight the Value of Performance Management

Dave Kasabian — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:54:52 GMT

Thanks for the comment Southard. I see you like the champagne vs. dog food analogy as do most of your peers on the vendor side. Your point about foresight vs. reaction is true. It is better to predict and prepare than to experience and react. I welcome you and other vendors to provide links in your comments to my blogs to case studies or press releases highlighting client success stories on this front. Clients and prospects can never get enough of these real-world examples to help build the case for BI and PM ROI. Thanks again for your input.

Comment on IBM Earnings Highlight the Value of Performance Management

Southard Jones — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:18:42 GMT

It is impressive that IBM has used their performance management capabilities and software to help them manage their business in this tough economy. Just as impressive are companies that used forecasting processes and software prior to the downtown to position their business for the recession. One may wonder why many well managed companies didn't see the downturn coming earlier. Furthermore, are these same companies setting themselves up for the recovery? Many of our customers at Right90 did see the downturn coming through the insight Right90 provided. These same companies are using Right90 to prepare for a recovery and positioning themselves better than their competitors. And yes, here at Right90 we drink our own champagne and it has helped us manage through this volatile economy.

Comment on Will LucidEra's Demise Have a Domino Effect on Saas BI?

Dave Kasabian — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:57:40 GMT

Your point that companies who adopt SaaS transcation systems have a propensity to adopt SaaS as well is valid. However, I'm not quite ready to say that on-premise BI will "crater" as you put it.

There will be several years of coexistance before SaaS BI has the opportunity to beat out on-premise BI in overall market share. In the meantime, a little healthy competition is good for the consumer.

Comment on Will LucidEra's Demise Have a Domino Effect on Saas BI?

Don Tyler — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:28:20 GMT

I think that #3 in your list of reasons is pertinent, but would like to add a thought. As more SaaS transactional apps are being deployed at the departmental levels, BI or Analytics that support those transactional apps will be expected to behave and be consumed in a similar manner. Top-down, IT-led BI will mostly fail at the edge of the enterprise just as we have seen on-premise CRM crater in the face of SaaS, department-driven alternatives.