BPM Partners Expands Globally to Service the Growing European Performance Management Market.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

STAMFORD, Conn. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2004

Growth in BPM Marketplace Driven by Greater Need to Understand and

Manage Business Performance

BPM Partners, the leading independent authority on business performance management (BPM) solutions, today announced that it has opened an office in the United Kingdom to service its growing European customer base.

The BPM Partners Ltd. team, based in London and led by long time industry expert Ivor Herman, is comprised of professionals who not only understand the importance of performance management, but also have wide experience planning and implementing BPM projects. Prior to setting up the UK BPM Partners operation, Herman was managing director of UK consulting firm Dimensus Solutions. Herman spent 12 years at Hyperion Solutions in consulting management roles, and was focused on the development and delivery of consulting services in the BPM marketplace.

"Based upon the level of inquiries that we receive from European prospects, we are confident that forward-thinking European organizations have a similar perspective on what true performance management can do to help the competitiveness of their organization," said Craig Schiff, president and CEO, BPM Partners. "By expanding our team and adding local experts, we can more quickly help executives at these companies achieve their goal - completely understanding their business."

In today's fast moving business environment, it is vital that executives be aware of the true nature of their business at any given point. BPM, a combination of business processes, select measures (metrics, key performance indicators) and systems that enable an organization to understand, act on and influence its business performance, is a growth area in the global business and technology communities. Budgeting, planning, consolidation, scorecards, dashboards, business intelligence (BI) and analytic applications all fall under the BPM umbrella. In addition to the attraction of having "one version of the truth," BPM projects are the most strategic method of managing global compliance requirements - from Basel II and IFRS to Sarbanes-Oxley.

"Performance management projects are typically more successful when organizations include experienced performance management specialists on the team," said Nigel Pendse, author of The OLAP Surveys (www.survey.com/olap) and The OLAP Report (www.olapreport.com). "The OLAP Surveys have consistently found that organizations that conduct rigorous multi-product evaluations are markedly more likely to realize business benefits than those that don't. This may be because they are more likely to select the most suitable product, or perhaps because their projects were probably more thorough in other ways, too. Projects led by specialist BI consulting firms also had a higher success rate than any others."

The new BPM Partners Ltd. provides European-based and global companies with European offices access to the BPM Partners' unique needs analysis and vendor selection methodology. The company also helps customers and potential customers consider the risks and benefits of a BPM implementation through access to a variety of resources, such as the annual BPM industry survey results and BPM Pulse dashboard.

"The resources available on our website are a great way for our European prospects and customers to get started on a performance management initiative," said Herman, managing director of BPM Partners Ltd. "We provide clients with an example of what needs to be done as a part of any BPM project, and then BPM Partners can provide the industry-specific BPM knowledge and experience necessary to bring the project in successfully, on time and on budget."

About BPM Partners

BPM Partners is the leading independent authority on business performance management (BPM) solutions. BPM Partners' vendor-neutral consultants guide companies through their BPM initiatives from start to finish, helping companies attain the maximum value from their business performance management initiatives. This is done through hands-on services that provide insight on how to collect and analyze the right information to address specific business goals. BPM Partners leads clients through vendor selection, evaluation and implementation of departmental or enterprise-wide BPM systems.

By analyzing and then matching the client's requirements with the appropriate vendor, BPM Partners helps companies narrow the selection of vendors from a lengthy industry list that includes Applix (Nasdaq: APLX), Cartesis, Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN), Geac (TSE:GAC), FRx Software, Hyperion (Nasdaq: HYSL), Longview Solutions, OutlookSoft, PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT), SAP (NYSE: SAP), SAS, SRC Software and others. For further details, go to www.bpmpartners.com