Command + ctrl: CPM, BPM or SEM? The software vendors can't agree what to call it, but they say you need it anyway. Ruth Prickett explains what you're missing if you're still using MS Excel to run your business.(business performance management)(corporate performance management)(strategic enterprise management)

Financial Management (Chartered Institude of Management Accountants), April, 2005 by Prickett, Ruth

It's no good saying that if God had wanted us to have performance management systems, he'd never have given us spreadsheets. It's a question of evolution: ever since small firms started growing into large companies, while others complicated matters by entering multiple marriages at home and abroad, software vendors have been racing to provide suitably sophisticated systems to help them manage all branches of their overgrown family trees.

"Know thyself" might be one way to ensure individual happiness, but, when it comes to today's complex organisational structures and rigorous regulatory demands, it's a lot easier said than done. The trouble is that, in evolutionary terms, these systems are still in their infancy and their parents have not even agreed on a name...

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