IBM Study Shows Midmarket Chief Financial Officers Play Increased Role in Company Strategy but Face Challenges in Decision Making and Cost Reduction

Nearly 60% of Midmarket Chief Financial Officers are Looking to Improve Operational Planning and Analytical Capabilities

ARMONK, New York, April 8, 2010 - A global study of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) by IBM (NYSE: IBM)
reports that nearly three quarters of Midmarket CFOs worldwide cite the need
for faster decision making and pressure to reduce costs as their top
challenges. The study explains that these CFOs believe that external
pressures (economic, industry, regulatory) will increase over the next three
years. As a result, more than half of these mid-size Finance organizations
believe they have to make major changes to respond.

(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

More frequently, CFOs of mid-size businesses are being called into top
level discussions around demand and price pressures, business model changes,
information strategy and resource allocation. Additionally, over 75% say they
have an advisory or decision making role on the entire company agenda, as
opposed to having no role or being an informer. Despite their CFOs' elevated
decision making role, the vast majority of those surveyed pointed to a
significant gap between the importance of key CFO agenda items and their
effectiveness in execution. The largest gaps were found in driving
integration of information (32%), talent development (28%), advising on
corporate strategy (27%), and managing and mitigating company risk (24%).

"Midmarket CFOs and their Finance organizations are taking a much more
prominent role in corporate decision making," says Marc Dupaquier, General
Manager - Midmarket, IBM. "This makes it all the more important for these
CFOs to be able to provide insights into their companies' financial data and
suggest strategies that will help advance their companies' agendas."

Challenges

While the findings indicate that CFOs are increasingly playing a
significant role in strategic and operational matters to help the business
make better decisions faster, Midmarket CFOs still cite challenges.

    - Over 40% of companies produce financial metrics manually
    - Finance spends over 50% of time on transactional activities
    - 50% lack a common planning platform; 36% lack a common reporting
      platform
    - Nearly 60% not satisfied with their operational planning and
      forecasting analytical capability
    - 47% are poor to average at anticipating external forces

Value Integrators

Through the analysis, one group of Finance organizations, dubbed "Value
Integrators," were found to consistently outperform their peers in key
financial metrics by driving two main qualities across their organization:

    - Finance efficiency - The degree of common process and data standards
      across the organization
    - Business insight - The maturity level of Finance talent, technology and
      analytical capabilities dedicated to providing business optimization,
      planning and strategic insights.

"Value" conveys Finance's contribution to helping manage the Enterprise,
while "Integrator" conveys the importance these organizations place on
standardizing and integrating information and processes. Value Integrators
have found a way to excel and navigate a new economic climate. The study
indicates that enforcing process and data standards, integrating information
and applying business analytics are key capabilities that enable improved
business insight and risk management. Midsize firms are well aware of the
importance of these capabilities. For example, the 2009 Global CIO Study
(www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-ibm-study-shows-that-analytics-and-self-service-top-the-list-for-midmarket-chief-information-officers-63745432.html)
revealed that 86% of midmarket CIOs identified business intelligence
and analytics - the ability to see patterns in vast amounts of data and
extract actionable insights - as a top technology for enhancing
competitiveness over the next five years.

About the Global CFO Study

The findings of this report are based upon a survey conducted in the
spring and summer of 2009 by IBM Global Business Services' Financial
Management practice and the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV).
Participants included more than 1,900 Chief Financial Officers and senior
Finance executives from 81 countries and 35 industries. Of those, 445
participants were from midsize firms, defined as companies with less than
US$500M in annual revenue. These leaders participated in structured
interviews conducted in person by IBM practitioners or online surveys
designed to capture insights on how Finance professionals are affected by and
deal with performance, risks, operational levers and governance.

For access to the full study findings and case studies, please visit:
www.ibm.com/cfostudy.

    Contact:
    Jennifer Clemente
    +1-919-418-6169
    jennic@us.ibm.com

Jennifer Clemente, +1-919-418-6169, jennic at us.ibm.com