1. Perform
Volume 7 / Issue 2 / 10
Information in Action
The Future of the
Scorecard
Performance Management:
Past, Present
and Future
Letters from the Publisher and Emergency Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Building Sustainable Performance
Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 By John Katsoulis and Seema Haji Management Frameworks . . . . 41
By Kaye Kendrick
The Future of the Scorecard PSEG Leverages Actuate to Reduce
By Jeff Perkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Costs and Increase Productivity 25 Bridging the Finance-Operational
Public Service Enterprise Group Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
In this issue > The Smart Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Xenos
10
Top-Notch Performance . . . . . . . . 28
By David F. Giannetto
Promaco Consulting Actuate Excellence Awards . . . . 50
How to Spot a Bad Strategy . . 15
By Mark Graham Brown Expanded Opportunity . . . . . . . . . 31 Coach’s Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Prudential plc By Catie Sirie
The Road to World-Class
Commissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 A Clearer View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Reading Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
NHS South of Tyne and Wear IBM Rational ClearQuest

2. From the Publisher
At Actuate, 2010 started off with some exciting news. TechWeb’s Intelligent Enterprise Editors’ Choice
Awards were announced, and Actuate was named a 2010 “Company to Watch” in the Business Intelligence
(BI) category, for creating and leading the Eclipse BIRT project and supporting the developer community.
The awards look at companies that innovate, even in the tough times we’ve seen in the past year. Our
innovation and ability to continually evolve are things that Actuate take special pride in, and we’re pleased
that the editors at Intelligent Enterprise would recognize that too.
While we’re on the subject of innovation and evolution, we’ve been doing exactly that recently at Actuate
– evolving. In fact, with just the first quarter of 2010 behind us, we’re already a different company than we
were in 2009. And the biggest change has certainly been adding a new member to the Actuate family:
Xenos, the leader in Online Presentment and Document Storage Reduction. But that’s not the only thing
we’ve accomplished so far this year – we also did amazing work launching BIRT Performance Scorecard 9, BIRT Mobile for the
iPhone and Xenos Accessibility.
Now we’re getting underway with this year’s Actuate Excellence Awards, which is an exciting opportunity for us to reward the
amazing innovations of our own clients. You can read more about those on page 50. And as usual, there’s a lot of great information
in this issue of Perform. I hope you enjoy it and can apply it to your own lives.
Best,
Rich Guth
Rich Guth
Vice President & General Manager Open Source Strategy Group
From the Editor
I recently came across an inspiring article about a gentleman in Malawi who was intent on providing
The Future of the
electricity to his country – one windmill at a time. He’s built three so far, put together with anything he
could get his hands on, and he’s become a local hero because just one of them generates enough power
for a television, the lights in his family home and more incredibly his local villagers can use it to power
their cell phones.
The story’s theme played out in my mind over and over again, reminding me that simple ideas can have a
SCORECARD
tremendous impact. Each year Actuate recognizes great ideas in our own environment. And although we
are not focused on the same goals as that man in Malawi, we also think we have our own group of heroes
– our customers, who come up with great ideas every day.
For 2010 we honor these ideas through our Excellence Awards, with three areas of excellence, outlined
on page 50 of this issue of Perform. While the first two categories may seem familiar to you – BIRT Implementation Excellence
and Scorecard Excellence – the third honors the newest member of the Actuate family, Xenos. Xenos is the leader in Online
Presentment and Document Storage Reduction and we’re excited to have them join us. You can read more about Xenos in “The
By Jeff Perkins healthy or not. And then there’s you, searching high and low
Smart Statement” on page 10, the first of a three-part series.
Vice President and General Manager for a piece of information that will better inform how you do
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
W
I hope you enjoy everything we’ve put together in this issue of Perform, from Jeff Perkins’ “The Future of the Scorecard” (page 3) – Actuate Performance Management Solutions your job. But it doesn’t exist, at least not definitively. There is
which explores how Performance Management has evolved in his 14 years in the business – to Mark Graham Brown’s “How to Spot no single version of the truth.
a Bad Strategy” (page 15) and David Giannetto’s “Bridging the Finance-Operations Gap” (page 44). Actually, we’re pretty excited e’ve all worked at that organization.
about all of the contributions to this issue of Perform – we hope you are too. You know the one: the place where you have When I started in the Performance Measurement and
Best Regards, to go searching everywhere for information, Management business 14 years ago, that organization was
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
for every single piece of data. But you look in most every organization. And that was why we were doing
John Katsoulis 10 different places and you get 10 different
answers. There is no single system of record for key, vital statistics
what we were doing, because we were looking to improve on
the status quo. We wanted to help people measure – to track
– the vital indicators that tell you whether your organization is things like actual versus budget, actual versus benchmark, etc.
John Katsoulis
2 Perform Editor 3

3. “
data more effectively to manage your organization. Companies – tall and small, public or private – and for all levels of those
are also moving away from the traditional report card approach, organizations. It’s an attitude that we think meshes nicely with
About the Author
There’s been a vital With a solid background in systems engineering, product
realizing that when employees feel like they are being judged
or ‘graded’ – constantly held up to the scrutiny of their peers –
this new evolution of Performance Management culture, but
it’s one that differs from some of our competitors, who vary
and dramatic shift in the management, sales, and sales management, Jeff Perkins they don’t always feel secure or happy in their jobs. No wonder
many of them weren’t on board with the early performance
across the board but don’t quite have that same attitude.
Some think Performance Management belongs strictly in
past years; a shift from a oversees the worldwide Performance Management
Solutions team at Actuate. After spending eight successful measurement initiatives! the financial domain, to be practiced exclusively by the folks
performance measurement years as Performancesoft’s Chief Technology Officer, Jeff Today, though, we’re seeing organizations calling people from
that are financially oriented; others see it only as being for the
”
– a 14-year Performance Management Software veteran – upper-echelon senior management. On that, we disagree.
far-flung regions of their company because they’ve been
culture to a Performance now works closely with Actuate’s engineering and product performing well on a particular metric. They’re calling them No matter where I stand on the company’s totem pole, after
Management culture. management groups to ensure that all Actuate Integrated
Performance Management solutions remain the most
in to help mentor and coach coworkers who are struggling
on the same metric, and they’re doing it in a collaborative
all, I may be accountable for a business result or metric. And
if I am, it’s important for me to be able to drill down into the
innovative and user-friendly on the market. environment with great respect. It’s a more scorecard-oriented underlying operational detail of that metric, so that I can
approach, where the idea isn’t to cast blame but to look instead understand what’s really going on behind the scenes. Someone
at why certain metrics are performing below target, something above me isn’t going to necessarily need to go into as much
that often has very explainable extenuating circumstances. detail as I am, so they’ll drill down to a much less detailed level;
– and to allow them to use those statistics and ratios during Performance Management vs. Measurement If you look at the Actuate BIRT Performance Scorecard today, they’re focused on the big picture and don’t have the time
the course of their jobs, to hopefully do those jobs better. for example, there’s room for commentary and annotations, or need to go down to the most minute level of detail. But in
We’ve come a long way, dude. allowing metric owners to capture their knowledge, so that they
Performance measurement still allows for that today. my role on the front lines, I need that information to do my
In its infancy days, performance measurement was just that: a can explain what’s going on behind the numbers. It’s a different job well. It’s why we don’t think a company is making full use
But it’s amazing how much something can change in a decade
way of measuring performance at all levels of an organization approach, and it makes each employee along the chain a part of a Performance Management system – of its potential and
and a half. Back then, performance measurement was still new
and of keeping an eye on what was happening in the company of the process, not simply the fall guy if something goes wrong. possibilities – if they’re leaving it as the exclusive domain of
and finding its footing. To succeed, we saw that visionaries
trenches, so to speak. Which is fine, but many – I’d say most – In other words, it’s no longer a shame-and-blame system, but upper-tier executives.
within the organization – often someone senior – needed to
of the metrics being measured then were financial (since the instead one of constant collaboration and improvement.
champion the cause; to push it through, sometimes amidst That’s one competitive differentiator of Actuate, and it translates
management systems themselves were all based on financial Actuate’s Approach
opposition from those who didn’t understand it or simply into what we offer. Our BIRT Performance Scorecard offers
metrics) so most of the time companies only really had a small
didn’t like the idea of being measured. And that often meant Actuate’s approach to Performance Management is this: we different capabilities for different types of users at different
glimpse at what was happening. And they couldn’t react very
that even the best performance measurement program, while think it’s for everyone, plain and simple. It’s for all organizations levels of an organization. Other differentiators include:
quickly to any changes, either – not when they only looked
started with the greatest intentions, often had some inherent
at those metrics every six months or maybe once a quarter. A
problems: a top-down approach that left those lower on the
very frequent measure then may have been monthly; today, it’s
totem pole feeling alienated by a new system; or a report card-
likely to be daily or even hourly.
style view of measurement that again left many employees
feeling nervous and blamed. It was no wonder that some That’s not the only change we’ve seen either. Instead of just
programs failed. tracking the data, organizations are now using it, and they’re
using it on a daily basis, to manage and move themselves
There’s been a vital and dramatic shift in the past years,
forward. It’s no longer just executives taking the driver’s seat
though; a shift from a performance measurement culture
either; that top-down approach, which never worked well,
to a Performance Management culture. And the chief aim of
is gone and in most places we’ve seen it replaced with an
a Performance Management culture is no longer just about
organization-wide approach instead. Metrics outside of finance
having all of that relevant data in one place – although that’s
have been embraced, so there are more subjective measures
important too – it’s also about being able to use that data in
being adopted – including qualitative measures, as well as
a meaningful way, to build your business. To see clearly those
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
leading or predictive measures – to balance the financially-
areas that need to be worked on and to benefit as much as
skewed outcome measures, which are still important but only
possible from those things that, as an organization, you do
show part of the picture.
well – and from the people who own those thriving metrics
and are helping them excel. It’s a more collaborative culture, In other words, it’s an entire shift in culture, from measurement
one that’s less quick to blame. And it’s a culture that Actuate to management. If you’re looking at data that’s been recorded
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
fits into nicely, because our approach to measurement and daily or hourly – as opposed to that which might be six months
management has always been one where everyone works old already – you’re able to react to it more quickly, to nimbly
together towards the same goals. navigate through any problems that might exist and to use that [ Figure 1.1: Briefing Books display information from multiple scorecards and allow users to drill down to understand
performance trends via color-coded interactive display and user commentary. ]
4 5

4. • Time to value. Companies want to know how long it will learning mode, trying to figure out how to get the features that
take before they start getting value from a system. And the a purpose-built application already has; and chances are, as
Actuate team, over its years in the business, has realized talented as they may be in their own area of focus, they will never
that the only way to be successful is to be able to deliver be able to build something with the same level of functionality,
value quickly. One of our leading sales propositions is our since their core strengths aren’t in Performance Management. In
time to value, measured in a small number of weeks rather
than in months or years.
the meantime, strategic resources – like IT personnel, technical
resources and management – are distracted and aren’t focusing
Performance Management:
• The simplicity of replicating metrics. It’s incredibly simple in
on core duties that are key to the company’s bottom line. Time The Top Three Persistent Pain Points
is lost as they try to create and later maintain a Performance
the BIRT Scorecard to replicate a metric across multiple
Management system; they’ll never be able to give 100 percent
organizational units. This is accomplished with minimal What haven’t changed all that much, even as the culture of Performance Management and Measurement has
to their own business. A purpose-built product like BIRT
effort in BIRT Scorecard because of the dimensionality progressed significantly, are the pain points our customers come to us with. Actuate sees them day in and day out,
Scorecard embodies years of Actuate and customer experience
of the product, which helps in being able to find best and they can stall a Performance Management initiative or stop it from meeting its potential. These are the top three
in Performance Management automation; something a home-
practices and to identify areas that are under-performing pain points we encounter:
grown system cannot hope to achieve.
quite quickly, even on the same metric.
The Future of the Scorecard
These are the key differentiators that Actuate brings to the 1. You don’t have the proper tools. There will always be some companies who try the low-cost approach to
If there’s one thing that you can always count on, it’s change.
table, and that our customers tell us have been deal breakers in measurement. They know Performance Management can be important to their organization, but they figure
And if I’ve seen Performance Management culture change so
their decision to choose BIRT Scorecard for their Performance they can do a good enough job of it by measuring their company performance using personal productivity
dramatically in the last 14 years, I know I’m going to see just
Management initiative. tools like those in the Microsoft Office suite: Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc. Those are all perfectly good tools,
as much change – or even more – in the next 14. Predicting
don’t get me wrong, but they’re not designed for Performance Management. A company’s Performance
On the flip side, some organizations that are technically inclined exactly where that change is going to happen isn’t an exact
Management program can quickly become unmanageable and unmaintainable without a purpose-built
sometimes decide that they can build their own Performance science, but there are a few things that we’re already seeing that
package, one that’s meant for sharing and has reliability and multi-use capabilities built in. There’s a reason why
Management application. Since they’re not in the business of I think will be crucial in how Performance Management plays
do-it-yourself initiatives ultimately collapse under their own weight.
Performance Management themselves, they’re always left in out in the years to come:
2. You can’t find the right data. Data, data, data – it all comes down to data, and whether you have the right
data or not. With the proliferation of multiple enterprise systems, and the proclivity of businesses to merge
and acquire, we find that any particular organization – and this goes for government as well as the private
sector – has multiple source systems and multiple data formats. And in order to measure and manage properly,
companies need to be able to reliably capture that data and to bring it into a system that is data-source
agnostic. We’ve found that the ability for a system to sit on top of and to be independent of the data sourcing
really future-proofs it from any changes that might happen due to mergers and acquisitions, or from changes
to corporate or organizational strategy.
3. You can’t get support. The culture around a Performance Management initiative can make it or break it. So
take a look at your organization: Is your initiative being used as the stick or the carrot? Is it engaging users at
all levels? If you push a Performance Management initiative down from the top – tell employees ‘this is what
you have to measure’ – it rarely ever succeeds. Instead, collaborative design is the most effective way of getting
support; you go out and work with the people who are accountable, who own the metrics, and ask them what
they need in order to measure and manage their part of the business. If they truly have ownership and can see
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
how their metric aligns with what the organization is trying to accomplish, then it’s easier to get that buy-in
that is so crucial to success. And the benefits of doing that right are fantastic; it lends to better decision making
all round and makes organizations more able to react to changing market conditions.
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
6 7

5. • It won’t be long before Performance Management offices and desks are becoming a thing of the past – so
pervasively invades all portions of organizations’ the ability to get performance information regardless of
operations. So it won’t be an afterthought anymore: when where you are, no matter your mobile device, is becoming
a company invests in a large administrative system like an increasingly important.
ERP system, the metrics portion will be built right in. That’s
Actuate’s stated objective and goal as we move forward is to
good news, since it means sourcing data won’t be nearly
maintain state-of-the-art leadership, driven by the blending of a
the same problem it has been in the past.
very strong metrics calculation engine that does all of the heavy
• There will be mass changes to the visualization of lifting work, with a strong and easy-to-use visual interface. We’ll
performance information. It’s an area where Actuate is build on that in the future through increased mobilization and
strong, and it will become more and more important as collaboration, and through self-serve performance information
society becomes even more computer oriented and gets portals. I can’t give anything away as to what we’re working on
used to strong, simple and intuitive interfaces. We’ll see now, but look for things to be faster and better in the future,
applications we use in our work life mimic those we use for a system that is able to take on even larger Performance
at home, influenced by things like social networking and Management applications. There will be a continued focus on
self-serve banking applications, which need zero training being able to link from the strategic or summarized level right
and are easy to use. Some of that’s already evident in the down to the operating level.
current BIRT Scorecard, but you’ll find all applications
But on the other hand, expect us to take things in a few
adopting that kind of design standard going forward.
directions – introduce some exciting new elements – that
It’s the second wave of web-based Rich Information
you’ve never even dreamt of. Surprises are definitely in the
Applications.
works. Because our job at Actuate isn’t just to react to changes
• Finally, mobility will play a greater role in the Performance in the Performance Management culture. We create those
Management world. People are increasingly mobile – changes too.
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
[ Figure 1.2: Strategy maps allow you to create graphical representations specific to your Performance Management initiative. ]
8 9

6. The
SMART
STATEMENT
Say Good-bye to Paper
Statements,
Say Hello to Online
Presentment
Every year, companies are
sending out more and more
statements, claims, invoices
and bills. Traditionally those
statements have been
nothing but a cost sink. But
not anymore.
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
10 11
Part One in a Three-Part Series on Xenos, an Actuate Company

7. “ Traditionally, statements have been sent through the
mail, and it’s been a one-size-fits-all approach.
”
Xenos
has been a major player in organization has 100,000 or 10 million customers, they typically
the Enterprise Information send out the same statement to their entire client base, not
Management Space for over making any distinction based on demographics or personal
25 years, during which time a unique mix of technology and customer preferences. At the same time, those same companies
experience has positioned the company as an industry leader. Xenos’ may be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on online
products and solutions can be found deep within the information or mail campaigns to target specific customer groups, trying to
architectures of many of the world’s largest companies. With retain their customer base by building brand recognition, or up-
a global customer base of over 375 Tier 1 organizations, Xenos’ selling or cross-selling to their existing clients. Many customers
solutions are used to improve business processes, reduce operational may not even glance at those campaigns, but those same
costs, enhance customer experience and promote the benefits of customers will look at their statements for an average of one to
Green IT. In February 2010, Xenos became an Actuate company. three minutes each month, and often more than once. Add to
that an open rate of 95 percent or more and those statements
This is the first of a three-part series of articles on Xenos, an Actuate
represent the perfect medium for those up-sells and cross-sells
company. In this issue, Perform examines Xenos ePresentment™, an
– an opportunity that, more often than not, is overlooked by the
online statement presentment offering. Part 2 will focus on Xenos’
companies sending them.
solutions for document storage reduction, while Part 3 examines
how Xenos fits into the Actuate world. But that’s not the only element of the statement that’s ripe
for change. First of all, the mail is no longer necessarily the
Introduction
preferred way of sending or receiving statements. Whether it’s
Every year, companies can produce and send out millions of in an effort to be green, to reduce mailing costs, or to simplify these documents have taken any action to reduce the storage With the aging of the baby boomers, accessibility is also more
statements, claims, invoices and bills. But could organizations the integration with their own personal electronic bookkeeping footprint. important than ever. There has been a movement towards
be doing more with those statements? Could they be getting requirements, more and more people are requesting to receive creating documents in an accessible PDF format for the visually
The Evolution of Online Presentment
better use out of them? And at the same time, could they be their statements online. To stay competitive, companies need to impaired and aging population. These PDFs are created with
using fewer resources to produce them, while making them offer that option. Besides the challenge of storage, traditional PDF documents tags to allow for the reading aloud of text, graphics and
more customer-focused? that simply reflect a print statement also come up short in images. But soon, accessibility won’t just be a ‘nice to have’
Not all online statements are created equal, though. The another area: performance. Customers in today’s computer- feature. Rather, as baby boomers – the largest segment of the
In other words, are companies wasting a prime opportunity? most common and basic way to create one is to simply take savvy world expect to see their online statements when they population – age, the need for everything from large print to
After all, statement generation – typically done monthly – a traditional printed statement and to transform it into a PDF want them and how they want them. They want those online easily accessible documents is rapidly moving to become a
is the most frequent contact most companies have with document without any changes. But statements that have documents to meet their needs and to be accessible however regulatory requirement. With this in mind, Xenos has recently
their customers. But in most cases, organizations ignore the been designed for print don’t always translate well into the they choose to look at them. Xenos ePresentment allows for this, announced a new addition to its ePresentment Enterprise Server
importance of the experience their customers have with that online world; a PDF that mirrors a printed statement does little breaking up and saving PDF documents into their individual platform that will generate accessible PDFs for ePresentment.
information, and how it relates back to the branding and to address the uniqueness of a company’s customer database, components, to retrieve them as necessary, when necessary; This will go a long way in helping the visually impaired take
messaging they wish to convey. The result is that marketing it does little to address customers’ self-service needs, and it this not only saves storage space but allows for branding and advantage of client information and at the same time insure
departments are not taking full advantage of those documents. doesn’t do much to support companies’ marketing efforts. marketing information to be personalized based on customer that Xenos’ customers do not fall in breach of regulatory or
By dramatically changing the content – reflecting specific profiles and to be constantly updated as needed and integrated
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
Traditional PDFs also can increase storage capacity legal changes on the horizon.
customer segments while getting their branding across – they requirements and as a result increase capital and operational automatically when clients call up their statements online.
could be benefiting from the marketing potential of documents That’s not all that’s possible, either. Every day, new and more
costs. A graphically rich document like a PDF file can easily With this model, changing customer needs can also be taken
that they have to generate and send out anyway. advanced adaptations of online presentment continue to
reach 5 MB in size (as opposed to a more traditional text- into consideration. The growth of social networking and mobile
emerge. Xenos ePresentment stays on the forefront, offering
That’s where Xenos ePresentment comes in. based document, which ranges between 150 and 500 KB). technology usage, for example, means that output must be
capabilities that include:
The fully-burdened cost is between $20 and $30 per GB per adapted for much smaller-format devices, including netbooks
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
The Traditional Approach month to sustain digital storage. Multiply that cost over several and smartphones. PDF delivery, then, is no longer simply a • Repurposing content. Some organizations offer content
Traditionally, statements have been sent through the mail, and years and the challenge becomes clear. At the same time, few customer-centric issue – it has evolved to become device- extracts of previously static information in structured data
it’s been a one-size-fits-all approach. No matter whether an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems used to store centric as well. formats such as XML or CSV. These structured data extracts
12 13

8. are being directly imported into back-office applications
in a straight-through processing manner, or manipulated
by individual recipients within personal spreadsheets.
Content repurposing offers a massive reduction in The Power of Xenos
downstream manual processing, resulting in real cost ePresentment
savings for end consumers.
• Dynamic content consolidation. With dynamic content As a server-based approach, Xenos ePresentment
consolidation, multiple related pieces of information offers a number of advantages:
are merged or linked together to provide an expanded
and/or supportive view of a single transaction or holistic • It eliminates the gaps in existing
customer position. An example would be a personal bank information architecture and process flows
statement, where all relevant check images are appended by streamlining information flows and
to the end of the statement or hyperlinked within it and enabling the repurposing of legacy data
then made available online. This translates into significant documents for new applications;
saved time for end users who would otherwise have to • It delivers a superior “return on information”
search for supporting materials. In addition, customers can by making that information available where,
get a consolidated view of all of their transactions across when and how it is needed at a lower cost;
multiple lines of business, or over expanded periods of
• It enables the enterprise to control business
time; this can enhance their service experience and make
information and flow for both structured
it feel more personal to them.
and unstructured data, making information
• Post processing composition. In post processing available where, when and how it is needed
composition, previously produced and archived within the enterprise to improve operational
documents are manipulated in real time based on efficiency and business processes, reduce
changing customer preferences and advanced analytics. In risk and costs, and increase productivity;
an online world, customer profiles are constantly updated
and what was true at the time of document production • It eliminates redundancy in archive and
may no longer hold true at the time of presentation. legacy applications and significantly
Since documents are re-composed, assembled and reduces storage costs associated with
presented online in real time, each reflects the latest document and image archives.
How to Spot a Bad Strategy
possible customer information and can take advantage
of up-to-the-minute analytical trending reports extracted
from corporate data warehouses. Online documents also
reflect the most current marketing messages and offers self-service model for customer interaction. Online statements
that are personally relevant to the consumer to support can be more than just a print document presented online,
By Mark Graham Brown plenty of demand for their services, so this was a realistic goal.
cross-selling and up-selling. though, and companies are realizing the benefits of presenting
Mark Graham Brown Consulting The company ended up with three key strategies for achieving
relevant and accurate information in a format that’s adaptable
We’ve
• Document decomposition. Some organizations are their growth goal:
– one that’s able to keep up with their branding initiatives while all been in those planning
taking advantage of print stream or PDF document
meeting their clients’ personalized needs. Those companies are meetings where we begin 1. Increase share of business. Get more work from existing
decomposition to present customers with a truly
beginning to understand that statements don’t need to be the by reviewing our company’s customers.
interactive experience. Documents produced in print
cost sink they’ve previously been, but rather that they represent strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Typically
stream or PDF formats offer a static presentation of 2. Acquisitions. Investigate and purchase smaller competitors
an opportunity to interact with customers in a variety of ways.
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
there is a much longer list of strengths than there are or other companies who are in different markets/
information to the end customer. Advanced integrated
Xenos helps bridge the gap between companies’ documents weaknesses, but companies seem to be getting more realistic geographies.
document solutions (IDS) break down static documents
and their customers, recognizing the true potential of online these days and are willing to acknowledge that they are not
into individual XML files. A style sheet is created and 3. International. Focus on marketing to and acquiring new
statements. With a powerful solution like Xenos ePresentment good at everything. Once the goals or objectives have been
applied to the extracted XML content, resulting in a very international accounts in Asia and South America.
behind the initiative – and the right champions within the established for the next year or two, the real hard work begins
interactive customer web experience.
in coming up with strategies for success. There are often Coming up with strategies is hard enough. Even more difficult
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
company driving it through – online presentment can bring
Conclusion any company’s statements into the present and through to multiple strategies for a single goal. For example, a client had is coming up with realistic and accurate ways of evaluating
Driven by demand and a desire to continually improve their the future, helping to maintain and build their customer-client a goal of going from $400 million to $600 million in sales in whether or not the strategies are the right ones. In this article,
customer experience, organizations are moving to an online relations at the same time. the next three years. Industry data indicated that there was we will explore some of the practices that tend to work well
14 15

9. “
when evaluating strategies, as well as the most common website. They measured the effectiveness of the communication
mistakes organizations make when assessing their strategies. strategy by counting metrics like butts in chairs at briefing
We’ll start out by examining some of the errors and follow up meetings, the number of newsletters distributed and web site
with a review of the best practices I’ve seen. hits. When they measured the effectiveness of communication The chances of any strategy being successful do
”
Mistake #1: Failure to Get External Opinions on the following year, it actually got worse.
include factors like luck and timing, but experience is
Strategy I tried using Google ad words as a marketing strategy for my
Deciding on strategy is often more an exercise in politics than consulting and training business; I paid Google $400 to $600 probably the most important variable.
logic and reason. The executive team may brainstorm a list of every month to make sure Mark Graham Brown showed up
possible strategies for achieving the goals, but it’s funny how on the first page if someone did a search on “performance
the ones that make the shirt list are almost always the ones metrics” or “Balanced Scorecard”. I got close to 1,000 hits per
month, which people told me was excellent. I did this for six for growth, market share and profit are handed down from #2 Best Practice for Spotting Bad Strategies: Lack of
suggested by the CEO. Once in a while the CEO does not try
months before realizing that not one of those website hits on high by the executives, board, or parent organization. We Knowledge/Experience/Success
to control the decision and it’s a more democratic process,
translated into dollars in business, or even a good hard lead. usually don’t have much say in these, regardless of how stupid
but in these cases it is usually the person who can argue and It’s funny how when companies get big they start to think they
The big mistake all of these organizations (including my own) they might be. For example, I remember talking with a well-
present his/her case the best who gets to select the strategies. are good at business, and that any business that comes along
are making is to judge the success of a strategy by measuring known Fortune 100 technology firm right after the internet
Regardless of how the decision making is done, though, it they can make successful. This directly contradicts Jim Collins’
milestones, activities, or behaviors associated with the chosen bubble burst in the mid 1990s and they still had a goal of 50
is always a wise idea to get the council of some outsiders. findings that great companies stick to the knitting. In other
strategy. You can complete all the activities on time and in the percent sales growth over the previous year! The best and
Perhaps your board can provide advice on picking the right words, stick to what you are good at. The further you stray from
right number and still not achieve the goal. easiest way of spotting a bad strategy is logic and reason.
strategy, but sometimes they are even too close to the your roots, or what you currently do, the greater your chances
situation and there is always the political factor operating with Mistake #3: Measuring Strategy with Only Outcome It’s hard for outsiders to understand how some big smart for failure. We’ve seen this time after time. Anheuser Busch is
board members and executives as well. Most organizations Metrics organizations can make such stupid decisions sometimes great at making and selling beer, so they come up with a growth
have a handful of consultants or advisors who know their when coming up with strategies. Apparently some of these strategy called Eagle Snacks (pretzels and chips). The strategy
company well and who they can call on for honest advice This is probably even more common than tracking activities strategies are decided on without much in the way of a logical capitalizes on their core competences of manufacturing food
about whether or not they have picked the right strategies. I as a way to tell if you’ve picked the right strategy. For many analysis. Some organizations rely on the nice diagrams with products, distribution, and marketing to consumers. It would
would take the time and spend the money to get at least two organizations, the only way to tell if a strategy worked is to circles and arrows called “strategy maps” to think through their seem to be a pretty easy transition, but it wasn’t. Eagle Snacks
or three outside opinions on the strategies you have selected look at lagging outcome metrics like revenue, profits, or market strategies. These diagrams are created in flipcharts with a team eventually failed and the remnants were sold to Frito Lay. One
before settling on them. This will be money well spent if the share. It’s true that often these things are the ultimate goal or of experts and they look very scientific, but most are nothing of the simplest ways of spotting a bad strategy is to compare
outsiders can point out some risks or flaws in your choices. The reason for the strategy. However, by the time you find out if more than a series of broad assumptions drawn on charts with the strategy with the organization’s track record for success.
danger with this approach is doing it when you have already the strategy worked, it is too late if this is all you measure. This arrows used to indicate causal relationships. For example, the This is what scares most people about a government-run
made up your mind and don’t want to hear anything that is mistake is much more prevalent in business than in the non- sequence goes something like this: If our end goal is growth healthcare system. The government is not very good at running
contrary to the strategies you have already picked. Therefore, it profit or government sector. They tend to be happy with activity in profits, then we need more loyal customers who give us anything, except perhaps the military. The Medicare system is
is important to get this external input when the strategies are or “program” metrics. The people who run the “Say No to Drugs” more business. In order to improve loyalty, we need greater already crippled by paperwork and bureaucracy and a strategy
still in the idea phase, and probably before some big off-site program are happy to track metrics like eyeballs that view their customer satisfaction. To achieve greater customer satisfaction, of having the government run the entire healthcare business
planning meeting. This can provide you with some of the data TV commercials or billboards, school programs conducted and we need high levels of engagement from our employees. To seems doomed to failure.
you present when discussing alternative strategies. buttons distributed. They don’t want to be accountable for the achieve that we need to do a training workshop to teach every
fact that drug use has steadily risen as has spending for the “Say Strategies should be selected based on the likelihood that the
employee how they can contribute to improved customer
Mistake #2: Measuring Strategies with Activity No to Drugs” campaign. Business people want to see outcomes organization can make them work. The chances of any strategy
satisfaction and loyalty, and thus profits. Whew!
Metrics that are usually measured in real dollars. I’ve run across many being successful do include factors like luck and timing, but
Sounds good right? So the flaw here is that no one is asking experience is probably the most important variable. This is
A pension organization I worked with had a strategy of large corporations that measure the success of their strategies
for evidence or even a logic test to evaluate each of the where outsiders are sometimes valuable because they can ask
balancing their investment portfolio to manage risk better. One by only looking at outcomes that are water under the bridge.
assumptions or theories in this strategy map. How, for example, the hard questions like: “What makes you think you can pull this
of their metrics was the number of meetings with investment In other words, by the time we realize that the new office in
can a training workshop lead to higher levels of engagement off when you have never done anything like this before?” It’s hard
Perform Magazine // Information in Action
advisors. Another was the number of research papers written Singapore was a bad strategy we have already lost millions of
from employees? If people are disengaged because they are to ask questions like this when you are inside the organization –
on different investment options. A second client had a strategy dollars. The success of any strategy is ultimately judged by the
overworked and mostly have idiots for bosses, no training you might be viewed as not being a “team player”.
of growing sales through innovative new product designs; this outcomes it produces. However, waiting for those outcomes
workshop is going to change that. If customer satisfaction
was a fashion-oriented business, so it sounded like a great and only measuring success with outcome data often makes it #3 Best Practice for Spotting Bad Strategies: Better
does improve, how do you know that will lead to more loyalty?
strategy. However, they measured the strategy by counting impossible to spot a bad strategy until it is too late. Strategic Metrics
If loyalty does improve from some of your worst customers,
activities like time spent with customers, trade shows attended,
Vol 7. Issue 2 . 2010
#1 Best Practice for Spotting Bad Strategies: Logic! this could result in a decline in profits. The bottom line is that One of the best and most scientific ways of spotting bad
and milestones completed on design projects. A third client
someone needs to evaluate your strategies with a critical eye strategies is to come up with a suite of metrics or an index
had a strategy for improving communication with employees It’s amazing to me how little thought and logic go into many
and Mr. Spock logic to test all of the assumptions that have metric that drills down to lower-level indicators of success.
that focused on a newsletter, briefing meetings, and employee strategies I’ve seen in big organizations. Often the overall goals
been made and ask for data/evidence to support them. Here’s a great example: A consumer-products company has
16 17