Survey shows many British companies are failing in their strategic efforts to measure business processes and gain competitive advantage

Geac (TSX:GAC and NASDAQ:GEAC), a global enterprise software company for Business Performance Management, has released findings from a survey it conducted which shows that two-thirds of a sampling of British businesses are not planning and managing their businesses effectively enough to gain competitive advantage.

Findings of the survey of 90 British companies (many of them publicly listed) include:

65% admit their strategic planning and management reporting processes are not well integrated;
67% are unable to cross reference strategic plans to supporting documentation;
Nearly half (48%) of companies cannot measure the performance of business functions through their strategic plans; and 61% cannot and do not allocate individual responsibilities in order to meet their strategic plan.

Michael Coveney, leader of Geac Business Services, a global consulting team that helps organisations combine management best practices with technology to improve management effectiveness, said:

Our survey amplifies a huge problem with many companies the world over. Most management reports are inadequate business tools as they do not reflect the activities that implemented the companys strategy. Too many reports simply focus on actual results vs. the budget and you cant run a business looking backwards! Instead managers should be asking, How much of the planned activities were actually implemented? and Did those activities contribute to the results we obtained? Most businesses today are largely clueless when asked if they are successfully implementing against their strategy. They have no idea if they are being truly successful or not. Quite simply, business revival cannot be fueled by such inadequate and inappropriate management practices.