Business Objects Announces Launch of Enterprise Performance Management Center of Excellence

Business Wire, March 12, 2007

Center to Help Company Shape the Next Generation of Performance Management Leadership

ORLANDO, Fla. -- At the Business Objects Insight for Performance Management Conference, Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), the world's leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced the formation of an Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Center of Excellence. The purpose of the Center of Excellence is to support the development of next generation performance management solutions -- predictive, closed-loop solutions that transcend the organization, empower decision makers, and change the way organizations work today.

The Center of Excellence will be led by Peri Pierone, vice president of EPM planning and analytics at Business Objects. The Center will also include an advisory board comprised of executives and thought leaders from within Business Objects, as well as industry visionaries and accomplished practitioners of performance management from outside the company.

"This Center of Excellence is about delivering the next generation of performance management by bringing together the greatest minds of the technology and performance management worlds to envision, build, and discover the next great frontier of solutions," said Mark Doll, senior vice president and general manager of EPM and global services at Business Objects. "Peri Pierone is an industry luminary with more than 20 years of experience in financial and performance management, and his experience spearheading the development of performance management applications for planning, profitability, and asset liability simulation modeling across a variety of industries will be an incredible asset to this initiative. Peri will also be joined by an impressive group of thought leaders, all of whom will contribute to its agenda and success."

A Continued Focus on Leading Industry Issues

The Business Objects EPM Center of Excellence will focus on the mission critical areas of strategy, process, technology, and metrics. The Center will house strategists, industry domain experts, product management leaders, and development personnel all associated with advancing the company's industry-leading suite of EPM solutions for its customers. It will have an accentuated focus on the future - setting the agenda for EPM and what rewards organizations can expect to reap from their investments. The Center of Excellence organization structure will be aligned to focus on the company's key disciplines such as planning, profitability, scorecarding, and analytics across key industries such as banking, insurance, government, retail, healthcare, and consumer packaged goods.

"The market is demanding more from EPM solution providers," said Peri Pierone. "Companies are looking to partner with vendors who are leaders, have a clear vision for the future, and are willing to invest in ensuring their customers are successful. Today's announcement will help ensure Business Objects is strategically aligned with its clients. It will also enable a more rapid delivery of industry aware solutions - all with the goal of meeting the needs of our customers today and in the future."

Thought Leadership and Customer Interaction

Another important aspect of the EPM Center of Excellence will be the extension of the company's performance management thought leadership series. Through educational meetings, seminars, webinars, and white papers, the company will partner with leading industry professionals to help customers understand the challenges of implementing performance management solutions today, as well as to present a roadmap and vision for where the market is headed in the coming years.

The EPM Center of Excellence will provide customers with a place to learn about and help shape the future of performance management. Business Objects is taking a leadership position in the industry by working closely with its customers and partners to challenge conventional wisdom and find innovative ways to ensure that all stakeholders are better equipped to face the EPM challenges ahead within their respective organizations.

For additional information on Business Objects enterprise performance management solutions, please visit www.businessobjects.com/epm.> About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world's leading business intelligence (BI) software company, with more than 42,000 customers worldwide, including over 80 percent of the Fortune 500. Business Objects helps organizations of all sizes create a trusted foundation for decision making, gain better insight into their business, and optimize performance. The company's innovative business intelligence suite, BusinessObjects[TM] XI, offers the BI industry's most advanced and complete solution for performance management, planning, reporting, query and analysis, and enterprise information management. BusinessObjects XI includes the award-winning Crystal line of reporting and data visualization software. Business Objects has also built the industry's strongest and most diverse partner community, and offers consulting and education services to help customers effectively deploy their business intelligence projects.