The Future of Corporate Performance Management Solutions

Corporate Performance Management, or CPM, is a broad category of ways to rate the

performance of a business. DataRails describes it as “an umbrella term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance enterprise”.

This means that CPM is not only collecting data, setting a budget, or predicting finances, but rather is a combination of anything past, present, or future that can help your company succeed. The more data, analytics, and tools that you have at your disposal, the more likely you are to make informed decisions.

History of CPM

While in today’s fast paced corporate world, all of the categories of CPM can be complex

and redefined constantly, the system started as a simple and revolutionary idea by Frederick W. Taylor in the late 19th century. The term became known as scientific management and through training, evaluation, and scientific studies, he managed to produce an extremely efficient management system that was created mostly for results in the world of physical production.

Although this study analyzed the efficiency of workers and their machines, (while today’s CPM focuses on efficiency based on data and metrics), nevertheless Taylor’s scientific management theory is still considered to be the origin of CPM solutions.

Throughout the 20th century, CPM became more data oriented, but without computers and automation, it was extremely time consuming and decisions were made by intuition more than anything else.

In 1989, Howard Dressner changed and expanded the term scientific management to business intelligence. BI improved business decisions by including concepts and methods in fact-based support systems. From then on, automation and tech programs became the focal point of CPM solutions.

CPM Today

CPM has evolved tremendously in the 120+ years since Taylor’s scientific management method was invented. With the biggest corporations in the world switching from physical goods to data and tech, combined with the fast paced environment of information and data, it is obvious that CPM looks very different today. There are still many different ways to adopt these solutions and companies have taken very different approaches.

In regards to the old scientific management method, many workplaces have changed how they value a worker’s output, mostly because it is much harder to evaluate non-physical results. Because of this, some corporations have completely eliminated the old fashioned employee rating system, which can bring down morale and do little to produce better outcomes.

Other companies, such as GE, dropped the ratings but replaced them with more forward thinking ideas such as goal setting and frequent feedback discussions. This keeps the workplace motivated and focused on the changing goals rather than annual discussions about the past, which many employers dread and can bring down motivation. While these changes have helped individual production to be more efficient and positive there is no doubt that the future of CPM solutions lies somewhere else.

The Future of CPM

Manually combining data simply isn’t an option with the droves of information today, and relying on employee output isn’t enough to plan for the future. CPM is more than employee feedback or rating a company’s performance on meeting their budget and output standards, rather it is a combination of everything, both past and future.

That being said, CPM technology is the only way to combine all of the reports, analysis, and forecasts into one system in order to produce the most relevant data, and it is important to find a platform that fits your company’s vision and needs. SaaS platforms such as DataRails will automate data collections for your financial and operational data, and is best suited for SMBs. DataRails will analyze GL, TB, Budget, Forecast, Sales or any other data that is generated by any organizational system or spreadsheet, including Excel, and has a much shorter implementation period than other programs.

Other services, such as Element61, combine CPM technology with coaching to help companies better understand past and present performance and manage future performance. The element of coaching helps add a personal touch to the tech that they use and essentially combines technology with consulting to help produce the best results.

Corporator is another company that focuses on CPM by building your own solution. Corporate planning, performance reporting, and strategy and profitability management are some of the existing business categories which are configurable to reflect the way you manage your own business, and is best for independent oriented companies who have a plan in place.

Conclusion

The workplace has changed tremendously over the past century and so has the way we look at production output and future planning. It is important to take advantage of the multitude of tech platforms that are now available to improve these aspects, from past evaluations to financial planning, and everything in between.