Business intelligence (BI) vendor Cognos has acquired Optima Analytical Solutions S.A., of Spain, for an undisclosed amount. Optima is an established financial performance management solutions provider with a strong presence in the Spanish market. Optima will continue its operations in Spain under the name Cognos Espana.

Last month I talked about the effect that "politics" has on business technology decision-making (see " Politics, Smolitics ...," 13 December 2004). This month I'd like to expand the "context" discussion to include the rest of the variables that influence the technology acquisition, deployment, and support processes.

The last on-site meeting of the Trends Council was pervaded by a sense of technology malaise. This feeling emanated not just from the subgroup of uber geeks present (and of which I am a proud member) but also from those who would be considered IT users or managers. As I pondered this phenomenon, I wondered if it actually indicated an overall positive development.

A survey Cutter conducted (in November 2004) of 110 end-user organizations' business performance management practices indicates that more than one-quarter are providing proactive alerting capabilities for use with their business performance management solutions.

[Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the Cutter IT Journal . We are rerunning it here because of its relevance to IT professionals worldwide.]

Negotiations are not typically won or lost during the negotiating event itself, but rather during the preparation phase that precedes it. Preparation brings you self-confidence as a negotiator that can help you overcome many of the challenges you face. Here are five essential questions you need to consider during the preparation phase:

A survey we conducted in November 2004 of end-user organizations undertaking business performance management initiatives found that almost half were required to make changes to existing business processes in order to support implementing their business performance management solutions.

Q. Tell me about an interesting consulting engagement you were involved in.