BPM leads the way

Talking on the sidelines of Hyperion Solutions 2006 held in Sydney (October
12-13, 2006), Howard Dresner, who is also the Chief Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions Corp, elaborated on the
evolution of Business Performance Management (BPM) and what brings it about.

The application that answers questions-instead of just mining
data-mountains and presenting the information-is the need of the hour, stated
Dresner. According to analysts, the BPM market is set to record a growth rate of
10 percent in 2006. This is double the growth rate of business software market
as such. The global BPM leader Hyperion launched its System 9 just last year and
boasts of 800 customers already. Hyperion System 9 integrates a modular suite of
financial management applications with comprehensive Business Intelligent (BI)
capabilities for reporting and analysis.

All businesses grapple with the challenge of aligning people, process and
purpose. BPM leads the way. “The objective now is to expand beyond finance,”
said Dresner. “We will continue to evolve the platform with advanced
visualization and guided analytics,” he added.

Howard Dresner, Chief Strategy Officer, Hyperion Solutions Corp

So, where would the next 'killer app' come from? According to Dresner, it
could be from the planning arena where there are gaps in BI that can be
addressed by IT. However, he is dismissive of the software-as-a-service (SAAS)
model. Not entirely though. “We are closely watching it (Web 2.0),” he said.

According to Dresner, SAAS is picking up but the percentage is very small.
There are a lot many issues with the model, especially regarding data ownership
and application control. Besides, he thinks this is an approach that would have
worked 20 years back when system networks were costly and user sophistication
low. “Today, all that has changed. The cost is not prohibitive as such,” he
said.

Hyperion upgrade for 2007 'System 9.3' is promising. The
upgrade-initiative involved a comprehensive usability research that makes the
application easy to use in the comfort zone of the tools that the user is
already familiar with. A lot of work is underway. In fact, earlier this year,
Hyperion, opened its sales office in Bangalore. According to Suganthi Shivakumar,
MD, ASEAN and India, Hyperion has already built-up a customer base of 50 in the
last four years in India through its channel partners. The company's System 9,
since its India-launch in March 2006 has acquired eight customers. “The market
opportunity is huge and the only way for customer count to go is up,” said
Shivakumar.

Nandita Singh

(The writer was hosted in Sydney by Hyperion Solutions Corp)