Guest Author:
Alfred Godeke, Managing Director of IFS Enterprise Operational Intelligence
Alfred founded VisionWaves in 2000, which in 2015 became IFS Enterprise Operational Intelligence (EOI). He is responsible for the Global Competence Center for Enterprise Operational Intelligence.
Back in 1996, I was working as a management consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and had spent prior years in various finance, logistics and strategy management roles. In my work with clients across industries, I saw a need in the market for a solution that could present a real-time view for business management teams on the operations of the company.
While there was already a number of technologies in place that provided these companies with a fragmented view of performance –technologies based on historical data– the market lacked a tool that would offer business leaders an overview of how well their business was performing. They were in need of a tool that would allow them to see how well their business was performing against their strategy and one that enabled them to take action to improve business operations in real-time or near-real-time.
How IFS Enterprise Operational Intelligence came to be
To address this growing need, I co-founded VisionWaves and developed a solution based on a model-driven, top-down methodology. Fast-forward a few years, and I was partnering with IFS on deals, officially joining the IFS family when VisionWaves was acquired about a year ago.
For some time now, IFS has placed a strategic emphasis on visual insights. We believe in visualization to empower people at all levels of an organization with the insights to act and thus continuously improve business performance. This commitment has been demonstrated with all of IFS’s visual insights tools, including the integration of complete business intelligence (BI) solution into IFS Applications, dedicated visual applications (like IFS Manufacturing Visualizer) and IFS Lobby. VisionWaves, now IFS Enterprise Operational Intelligence, was a key to extending visualization capabilities to strategic business models as opposed to specific processes or activities.
Gartner on Enterprise Business Process Analysis (EBPA)
Gartner was an early thought leader in research on these analysis solutions, which they and others have called operational intelligence (OI). They have contributed to defining the market, identifying market requirements and articulating what makes OI unique from adjacent disciplines like BI, BPM and even corporate performance management (CPM).
Over the years, Gartner has developed a body of research to educate their clients on the value OI tools can provide. Recently, Gartner published an important study entitled, “Market Guide for Enterprise Business Process Analysis.” * They describe EBPA as the:
“discipline of business modeling aimed at transforming and improving business performance and business outcomes.” *
They go on to say, “EBPA tools must have capabilities that go beyond process modeling and help align internal business operations with external customer interactions in order to improve business performance and business outcomes.”*
The 2016 Gartner Market Guide
IFS EOI is honored to be cited in this Market Guide and I encourage you to read the report: 2016 Market Guide for Enterprise Business Process Analysis. I hope you’ll be inspired to consider how better visualization of your business operations can transform how you work, and how your business performs.
FOOTNOTES:
*Gartner, market guide for enterprise business process analysis, Marc Kerremans, Samantha Searle, April 2016
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
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