In most organizations, the indirect costs as part of overall costs are growing. And customer self-service business models rule, so that organizations even bear the risk of losing grip on their direct cost in their business processes. Economic pressures complete the picture. In short, to preserve margins and ensure profitability, organizations need to keep their eye on the ball and monitor their business processes continuously.

Most organizations go through a maturity lifecycle for PCM. This profitability maturity lifecycle is largely implicit - organizations go through an evolution without realizing they are moving from one stage to another. The stages, however, are distinct. The end-state is part of achieving what Oracle calls 'management excellence'.

PCM drives business performance by discovering drivers of cost and profitability, empowering users with visibility and flexibility, and improving resource alignment.