Business intelligence vendor expands performance management solutions portfolio and European insurance customer base.

San Jose, Calif.-based Business Objects acquired Armstrong Laing Limited (ALG Software), an enterprise performance optimizations solutions provider. The move strengthens Business Objects' European insurance customer base and enhances its enterprise performance management software portfolio. Cheshire, England-based ALG has more than 800 customers, including many large European financial services firms -- such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyd's of London, HSBC and Direct Line Financial Services -- and had total 2005 revenue of approximately $56 million.

The acquisition enables Business Objects to expand its enterprise performance management software portfolio with solutions for profitability management, activity-based costing, predictive planning and strategic performance measurement, according to the vendor. It also positions Business Objects to take advantage of the growing performance management space, relates Pat Saporito, director, insurance solutions, Business Objects America.

"We have ... shown the value in process efficiencies and strategic and operational alignment that driver-based planning has for insurance finance," Saporito asserts. "The next phase of enterprise performance management is dynamic performance management, using predictive planning for competitive differentiation."

According to Matthew Josefowicz, New York-based manager of Celent's insurance group, compliance pressures further justify the acquisition. "The acquisition of ALG Software makes sense for Business Objects across verticals, since corporate performance management [CPM] has a fair amount of momentum," he says. "Business Objects' leading competitor, Cognos [Ottawa, Ontario], has already started emphasizing its CPM solutions." In addition, Josefowicz adds, "ALG brings several leading European insurers into Business Objects' customer base." --Anthony O'Donnell

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio