COMPANIES TO WATCH: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Kinaxis. Software as a service shines when collaboration crosses geographies and organizational boundaries. Kinaxis provides a SaaS-based performance management application that helps companies improves sales and operations planning as well as supply chain visibility.

Quantrix. Business plans and assumptions are changing quickly these days, and nine times out of 10 the big decisions are made in spreadsheets. Trouble is, Excel is better at analyzing history than exploring many possible futures. Quantrix provides an in-memory planning and modeling alternative that lets users change assumptions and choose from among myriad business scenarios.

RiverLogic. Enterprises must be able to understand the interdependencies between operational and financial performance. RiverLogic's Enterprise Optimizer models the links between, say, supply chain processes and related financial performance to help enterprises comprehend current and potential performance.

Varicent. Salespeople are the spark plugs of business. But if their efforts aren't aligned with corporate strategy and if they can't adapt to changing conditions, your company is sure to head in the wrong direction. Varicent provides on-premise and SaaS-based alternatives for modeling, analyzing and quickly adapting compensation plans as sales trends and markets fluctuate. It's sales performance management that serves finance, human resources, and top executives as well as sales managers.