Headsup: Vendors, Heal Thine Own Performance

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Business performance management customers aren't ecstatic about their software vendors. That's the conclusion of an annual user satisfaction survey recently released by vendor-unaffiliated consultancy BPM Partners.

Users offered five general reasons for giving vendors low ratings:

1. They were sold the wrong product or too much product.
2. Their requirements or expectations were impossible for any vendor to fulfill.
3. The vendor was difficult during the sales cycle or when post-sale support was needed.
4. The implementation was costlier, harder or more time-consuming than expected.
5. The product performed poorly or contained significant defects.

Of the two vendors providing every function BPM Partners considers performance management, Cognos narrowly beat Hyperion in customer satisfaction. Applix scored the highest, but doesn't offer consolidation or metrics builder capabilities. No vendor with statistically significant responses was deemed unacceptable, but Geac took the lowest rating — primarily because of its long implementation times.

— Jeanette Burriesci