Companies stuck in Operational Responsiveness 'slow lane'.

72% of organizations say processes take too long and 58% admit to significant gaps in information to support decision-making, says report from Progress Software

BEDFORD, Mass. -- Research from Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a leading software provider that enables enterprises to be operationally responsive, has found that 72% of organizations say their business processes take too long and need to be shortened.

The study, carried out by research specialists Vanson Bourne, which questioned 400 large companies across the USA and Western Europe, asked respondents about the tools and processes in place to support operational responsiveness and the ability to make real-time decisions.

Findings showed that a large proportion of businesses still feel they have some way to go before they are able to respond to market or customer changes quickly enough to be competitive.

"The quest for faster operational responsiveness is becoming more urgent now external factors such as social networking have boosted speed of response," said Dr. Giles Nelson, senior director of strategy, Apama division of Progress Software. "If organizations can't keep up with the pace of customer feedback, they will find themselves exposed to competitive threats."

On average, 22% of survey respondents in the US admitted that by the time they see a change or trend in one of their processes they have missed the opportunity to react to it. 54% said there are information gaps in decision-making.

As a result, 94% of companies globally think access to real-time data is important to them and 82% are planning on investing in real-time technology by the middle of 2010 in the hope of speeding up internal processes.

"Bad news now travels very quickly. Companies need to ensure they're not stuck in the slow lane when it comes to a response to customer issues. The overwhelming majority of people we spoke to recognize the importance of responding quickly to customers and to be much more responsive to changes in market conditions. Unfortunately, in most cases at present the process and information reporting infrastructure can't match that vision. Business Event Processing is becoming the way of dealing with this decision-making lag," continued Dr. Nelson.

About Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global software company that enables enterprises to be operationally responsive to changing conditions and customer interactions as they occur - to capitalize on new opportunities, drive greater efficiencies and reduce risk. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class infrastructure software spanning event-driven visibility and real-time response, open integration, data access and integration, and application development and deployment - all supporting on-premises and SaaS/Cloud deployments. Progress maximizes the benefits of operational responsiveness while minimizing IT complexity and total cost of ownership. Progress can be reached at www.progress.com or [phone].

Progress is a trademark or registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.