SOFTWARE INDUSTRY LEADERS JOIN INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE QUALITY, VALUE AND ECONOMICS OF ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE

BPM Forum Debuts Software Economics Council To Bring Together Software Providers, Integrators And Customers In An Ongoing Dialogue On Critical Issues And Best Practices

PALO ALTO, Calif. (June 14, 2023) – The BPM Forum, an executive leadership organization for the advancement of business performance management techniques, technologies, and processes, today announced the formation of the Software Economics Council (SECO). With support from many of the industry’s leading software companies and integrators, the new council will bring together the major constituencies in today’s enterprise software ecosystem to address critical issues impacting the efficiency, effectiveness and value of software.

The SECO leadership committee will include executives from Adobe Systems, Aztec Software, Azul Systems, BEA Systems, Borland Software, BroadVision, Cognizant, Deloitte, Dendrite International, EDS, IBM, Informatica, Leverage Software, Mercury, Novell, Oracle, Salesforce.com, Santéon , SAP, Siebel Systems, and Sybase. The BPM Forum, whose membership includes senior level executives in finance, planning, IT and operations in a cross section of industries, formed SECO with a founding sponsorship from Aztec Software, a leader in software product engineering.

SECO’s unique charter is in response to the growing dependency of organizations on software to run their operations and drive business performance, as well as increasing concerns about the cost, quality, availability, and integrity of software. A recent executive survey fielded by the BPM Forum revealed that 63 percent of respondents say their companies rely on software to capture emerging opportunities in the marketplace and 61 percent use software for competitive differentiation. However, software quality and cost continue to be an issue. “We estimate that application bugs account for 31 percent of all computer downtime, or a cost of $60 billion a year to American organizations,” said Jim Johnson, Chairman of The Standish Group. The Standish estimate is derived from monthly downtime incident reports from 2,000 systems around the world.

"Software is now intrinsic to business performance, impacting every facet of the way companies conduct, monitor and manage their operations. As a result, software innovation, quality, cost, and availability are major business issues that demand C-level attention and visibility," said Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the BPM Forum. "The Forum has created the Software Economics Council to foster a vibrant and open dialogue among constituencies of the software ecosystem that hopefully can lead to better business performance outcomes for enterprise customers."

Members of SECO will meet and communicate virtually and in-person on a regular basis to discuss software industry issues such as: development gaps between software design and delivery; how to best manage quality throughout software lifecycles; building on the potential of open-source technology; and new strategies that enable organizations to elevate the value of software with today’s licensed, open-source, and on-demand models.

“Even as every corporation becomes dependent on its enterprise software architecture and applications, it’s no secret that there’s room for improvement at every stage of the process,” said Shirish Netke, Chief Strategy Officer for Aztec Software and Chairman of the SECO leadership committee. “The goal of the Software Economics Council is to take a fresh look at these issues, hear from every constituency involved in the software development, implementation and maintenance cycles, and develop best practices that benefit not only every developer but every user. We’re honored to help bring together these industry luminaries in order to serve a common goal.”

Guided by the leadership committee and with sponsorship from industry providers and stakeholders, the Software Economics Council will:

• Identify and categorize challenges, concerns, characteristics, consistencies, and commonalities in the software development lifecycle
• Formulate and articulate opinions, research and recommendations around the availability, quality and criticality of using, managing, maintaining, and supporting software across the organization
• Develop and disseminate content and perspectives based on the outcomes of SECO membership interactions
• Host or participate in online events to present SECO findings
• Organize industry and media roundtables to discuss pressing issues, trends and developments

To learn more about SECO and BPM Forum initiatives, programs and sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.BPMForum.org or call Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director, at (650) 328-5555, ext. 110.

The Software Economics Council Founding Leadership Committee

• Mike Mahoney, Adobe Systems
• Shirish Netke, Aztec Software
• Shahin Khan, Azul Systems
• Jeff Pendleton, BEA Systems, Inc.
• Sandeep Tiwari, Borland Software
• Lisa Rosner, BroadVision
• Larry Gordon, Cognizant
• Charles Berkowitz, Deloitte Touché USA LLP
• Lindsay Duncan, Dendrite International
• Kelly Cunningham, EDS
• Sandy Rankin, IBM
• David Lyle, Informatica
• Mike Walsh, Leverage Software
• Arya Barirani, Mercury
• Kirk Klasson, Novell
• Robb Eklund, Oracle
• Clarence So, Salesforce.com
• Ash Rofail, Santéon
• Roman Bukary, SAP
• Ken Rudin, Siebel Systems
• Kathleen Schaub, Sybase

About the BPM Forum
The BPM Forum was organized in 2003 and is dedicated to advancing business performance management techniques, technologies, processes and ROI in global enterprises. The Forum includes nearly one thousand C-level executive and senior staff members representing global companies with over $500 billion in combined annual revenues. These influential executives and practitioners oversee finance, operations, technology, and business innovation responsibilities. The BPM Forum actively researches, develops and promotes new and proven methods to strengthen financial management disciplines, drive performance accountability, sharpen budgeting and planning practices, and to help drive large-scale performance improvements across distributed organizations. For more information, visit http://www.BPMForum.org