INDUSTRY LEADERS UNITE TO CREATE BPM FORUM
Blue Chip Advisory Board and Leaders from Corporate Giants Join Forces to Drive Business Performance Accountability

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21, 2023 — A new organization including more than 175 leading business executives and thought leaders was launched today to address the growing challenge of performance management, corporate accountability, and compliance in global enterprises. The organization, the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum, will advance and advocate new practices, technologies, and processes to improve the measurement and management of business performance.

Led by a blue chip advisory board of corporate executives, management consultants, former regulatory officials, and academicians, the BPM Forum underscores a growing realization that companies must dramatically improve their ability to monitor, forecast, report, and manage financial and business performance. The BPM Forum has already attracted a cadre of corporate leaders representing financial, operational, and IT executives from leading corporations, with combined annual revenues of more than $400 billion.

"There is a critical need for performance accountability," said James P. Bramante, BPM Forum advisory board member and global leader of the financial management services practice at IBM Business Consulting Services. "To succeed in this environment, companies need to improve their tools and processes for managing and driving better business performance and predictability. The BPM Forum will have enormous influence in those areas."

Supporting the BPM Forum’s cause, a new survey of corporate board members found that 60 percent of respondents are dissatisfied with the accuracy of their companies’ financial business forecasts. The new survey was fielded by Hyperion (Nasdaq: HYSL), the global leader in Business Performance Management software and founding sponsor of the BPM Forum. This finding is consistent with customer feedback, according to Hyperion.

"Hyperion’s work with customers, analysts, partners and peers in the marketplace has made clear the demand for an independent body that takes a holistic view of the issues, challenges and market drivers essential to advancing best practices in Business Performance Management," said Jeff Rodek, chairman and CEO of Hyperion Solutions. "Clearly we’ve struck a nerve, and we’re encouraged by the breadth and depth of the initial leadership and membership."

Rodek said that Hyperion is providing the initial underwriting to establish the BPM Forum, but that the organization will be driven forward by an independent advisory board and sponsors.

BPM Forum Led By Advisory Board of Influencers
The BPM Forum will be led by an advisory board comprised of respected executives representing numerous industries, including

  • Raj Aggarwal, Firestone Chair and Academic Director of the Finance PhD program at Kent State University
  • Gil Amelio, Former CEO of Apple, National Semiconductor, Rockwell Semiconductor and current senior partner at Sienna VenturesJames Bramante, Global Leader of Financial Management Services, IBM Business Consulting Services
  • Bill Campbell, Chairman of the Board, Intuit
  • Bob Conrads, Former Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company
  • Ronald Lataille, VP of Financial Planning & Analysis, Verizon’s Domestic Telecom Group
  • Kathy Misunas, Former CEO of The SABRE Group and Reed Travel Group
  • Mike Moriarty, Executive Vice President, Global Industries, A.T. Kearney
  • Harold Sirkin, SVP, Global Operations and E-commerce, Boston Consulting Group
  • Tim Stettheimer, VP & CIO at St. Vincent’s Hospital
  • Brian Svenkeson, VP of PepsiCo’s Planning and Reporting Process Team
  • Paul Tiffany, Author and Business School Lecturer at Wharton and Haas
  • Susan Woodward, Former Chief Economist at the SEC

According to BPM Forum advisory board member Gil Amelio, Business Performance Management is the number one challenge facing corporate America today. "The BPM Forum Advisory Board will help companies meet this challenge head-on. By building upon a vast array of executive experience and real-world customer interaction, we intend to help impart direction and thought leadership in performance accountability to global organizations," he said.


Powerhouse List of Charter Members Drive Corporate Accountability
An impressive list of organizations whose representatives have already joined the BPM Forum as Charter Members include BearingPoint, Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Fujitsu, The Gap, General Electric, Harper Collins Publishers, HP, Hyperion, JP Morgan Chase, ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., National Scientific Corporation, Phelps Dodge Corporation, Pinnacle Technology Partners, Inc., PPG Industries, Inc, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Quest Industries, Inc., Sabre-Holdings, Safeway, Inc., Saks Incorporated, San Jose State University, Southwest Airlines, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., Stratascope, Inc., T. Rowe Price, TCF National Bank, TD Bank Financial, TEK Digitel and Tyco International.

Addressing the Key Challenge Corporations Face
The recent spate of accounting fraud, shareholder losses and financial surprises among U.S. corporations, as well as the desire to improve corporate business results, has made Business Performance Management a C-level agenda item at many companies around the world. The analyst firm, AMR Research, expects corporate spending on business performance management to grow an estimated average of 23 percent a year and reach $12.2 billion by 2006.

Business Performance Management is an emerging technology discipline that enables companies to translate strategies into plans, monitor execution and provide insight to improve financial and operational performance. Implemented effectively, BPM enables enterprises to better shape and influence business outcomes, improve decision-making, respond to shifting market dynamics, intelligently allocate and utilize critical resources and consistently meet shareholder expectations.


Benchmarking the Board: The Performance Accountability Audit
Concurrent with the launch of the BPM Forum, Hyperion also announced the publication of a new study, titled "Benchmarking the Board: The Performance Accountability Audit." Published by the BPM Forum and underwritten by Hyperion, it is the first major study of corporate board members specifically designed to determine their attitudes, concerns and priorities relating to performance accountability and business performance management metrics.

The survey indicates that board members are ready for new solutions and approaches to performance measurement and management. More than 66 percent of the board member respondents say they need greater transparency of information to improve assurances of disclosures, and nearly 40 percent of the companies don’t measure operational indicators regularly.
The BPM Forum will publish or co-publish additional studies, white papers and other materials produced by member organizations and individuals.

About the BPM Forum
The BPM Forum is a new organization helping to advance the understanding of business performance management techniques, technologies, and processes in global enterprises. The not-for-profit organization brings together influential business line managers and senior executives overseeing enterprise finance, operations, and technology functions. Forum members will join in the pursuit of innovations in business performance management, a term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage a company’s business performance. Driven by demands for improved operational accountability and corporate governance, the BPM Forum will research and promote cutting-edge methods to strengthen financial management disciplines, and drive performance improvements across large organizations. For more information or to nominate a member, please visit http://www.bpmforum.org.
Media Contact:
Derek Kober
GlobalFluency
650-328-5555 ext. 126
dkober@globalfluency.com