Spreadsheets are here to stay. You depend on them to analyze data, to perform rapid calculations, and to easily model and format information. But they can be costly to maintain, and can compromise data integrity and security. You need the ability to provide an accurate and secure snapshot of critical business information, with the ease-of-use and familiarity offered by spreadsheets.
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Some four decades after early “data processing strategists” realized the importance of a comprehensive, manageable approach to truly integrated information, the typical organization is no closer to achieving those objectives. The question must be asked, then: will we ever achieve true, well-architected enterprise-scale information management? And if so, when? The answer (and the good news): probably—and soon.
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On any given day, your interactions with a few strategic customers will make a huge long-term difference. But which few customers? A new type of analytic application, customer value management (CVM), answers the need to identify, analyze, and predict customer behavior. Using CVM enables companies to shift from campaign-centric to customer-centric analysis, and develop more individualized and profitable customer relationships.
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As is generally the case with such issues as the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the quick fix is often too good to be true. Leading companies are thus using SOX as an opportunity to restructure the way they run their business. What’s more, they’re finding they already have much of what they need—including the right people, processes, and technology.
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Chances are that SAP applications play a role in your enterprise. SAP’s prowess at managing large volumes of transactional data has made it the leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP). As of January 2003, SAP claims more than 56,000 installations. Yet despite their popularity, SAP applications in many organizations remain semi-isolated and untapped for the business intelligence (BI) they contain.
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To realize the benefits of enterprise performance management (EPM), the focus needs to be on facilitating collaboration between senior management and business unit management. In practice, most organizations do not programmatically incorporate two-way communication into the planning process. Yet this is where many organizations find the greatest benefit in improving business performance—and the most difficulty in making the change.
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Today’s markets are faster-moving, more diverse, and more competitive than ever before. But if you could only pick one critical factor in competitiveness, it would have to be the ability to manage change. Without constant innovation, the best doesn’t stay the best for very long. Only organizations that can change faster than their competitors will survive in the long run.
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Can you deliver integrated and reliable information in a format that all users can understand? Are you able manage that from a single console that allows you to support your performance management, reporting, and query and analysis requirements? By extending the reach of knowledge within the organization, you can efficiently and effectively manage your operations through better visibility and transparency.
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To be reliable, cost and profitability analysis must be underpinned with an activity-driven view of how an organization’s products, customers, and channels consume resources and incur costs. However, activity-based costing (ABC) contributes to more reliable customer, product, and channel profitability analysis. In fact, without this foundation, such analyses are critically flawed, and can result in inappropriate decisions and choices.
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Companies still struggle to close the gap between strategy and day-to-day operational decisions, particularly when they over-complicate planning with practices delving too deeply into their business. A key issue is thus the consolidation of actuals into planning, and the visibility of details for specific plans and assumptions. This points to a need for more strategically aligned “planning and performance” approaches.
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The “fast close” describes the ability to complete accounting cycles and close books quickly. Companies that don’t close fast often miss reporting deadlines, and can suffer in the eyes of shareholders, investors, regulatory agencies, and trade exchanges. However, companies can overcome barriers to fast close by shifting some tasks outside the close process, and by automating traditionally manual consolidation functions.
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