The strength of this evolving management concept is that it connects metrics, methodology and financial planning using technology, resulting in the right information getting to the right people at the right time in a manner that allows effective changes to be made.

In other words, people at virtually all levels in an organisation can see how their activities are measured and how they contribute to the organisation's performance and achievements.

For CEOs looking for a quick route to higher revenues and profits, the BusinessWeek research asserts that there are five visions of the role of EPM in guiding organisational strategy in coming years.

First, EPM holds the potential to help corporations achieve the so-called "best practice" in their sector.

Since Frederick Taylor introduced the notion of scientific management back in 1911, there have been several improvements on the idea, with examples being total quality management (TQM), business process re-engineering (BPR), the Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard. All these systems aim to help organisations achieve the best practice.

According to the BusinessWeek study, however, EPM could have a deeper connection with corporate strategy. For instance, one respondent said that EPM could become standard methodology for project and programme management, tied in to key business components such as HR goals, employee bonuses, vendor and customer communications and partner activities.

The second vision of EPM is that it will help standardise performance measurement, both externally and internally. For example EPM could help pinpoint key metrics measured and disseminated throughout an organisation so that no one is left in the dark about what good performance is.

It could then go a step further to create a personal connection between performance and individual roles, all the way from the boardroom to the production line.

The third vision of EPM is to link human-resources management to organisational strategy so that employees are properly motivated to understand exactly what is expected of them and the consequences if they fail to deliver.

In short, profit and loss responsibility can be measured down to the individual level and more efficiency can be squeezed out of operations.

The fourth vision of EPM is that it will speed up a better-informed decision-making process. The BusinessWeek study quotes a senior executive as saying that EPM would facilitate a shift in mentality from short-term savings and hitting the quarterly revenue targets to more timely feedback and longer-term expectations.

In other words, think of it as the strategy equivalent of staying on message. Over the long term, clarity of strategy and direction, when mapped back to daily, weekly and quarterly activity, streamlines the message and makes it more easily carried out. This will get people to do the right things at the right time more consistently.

The fifth vision of EPM is that it will eventually change the way CEOs think of a strategy and its implementation.

In the long run, CEOs should make strategy formulation a bottom-up exercise where all employees are not only encouraged but required to participate, so that strategy formulation is a shared responsibility and the corporate DNA.

According on the BusinessWeek study, there is also a common view that EPM could soon make performance management more personal by showing clearly how every individual in an organisation contributes to both the top and the bottom line. In short, it's everyone's business.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

 nop1122@yahoo.com