Because the backbone of a sales and service performance management system is good, clean data, one of the most frequent questions asked is how a tool like Merced Performance Suite is different than Business Intelligence tools (BI). There are many feature differences, but the main difference I see time and again is that a performance management system closes the loop from data to action to result. BI may present data to end-users, but it leaves it up to them to change their behavior to get a certain result. A performance management system, on the other hand, is a closed-loop system that will not only process and present data, but will also generate alerts and kick out a follow-up activity - scripting a specific action for a particular person to ensure performance gets back on track.

Consider this simple but powerful example:  Your company finds that quality levels are running low for a certain set of employees.  A performance management system can send out a task to that person's supervisor, requiring the supervisor and agent to document what steps they are taking to improve that employee's performance. This gives managers visibility into activities and interactions that were previously undocumented.  The performance management application is the critical enabler of this process, alerting specific individuals when training and development sessions are needed as well as tracking all follow-up activities to ensure performance improves.

While performance management technology may sound straightforward, a system that "closes the loop" requires different technology than one that merely serves up reports and data. Performance management systems are relatively new so many companies are just now realizing their true potential. And, at the end of the day, companies are in the business of measuring, managing and improving performance, not raw data.