OLAP veteran Pilot Software president and chief executive officer Eric Kim has been forced to step down by the company’s parent, Cognizant, formerly part of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. Kim, who has been leading the operation since October 1994, agreed to resign his position so that Cognizant can strengthen Pilot’s management team as it moves from a product development focus to a more marketing-oriented one. Executive search firm Christian & Tombers has been tasked with an international search to find a replacement for Kim. In the interim, Pilot’s chairman and Cognizant executive VP Dennis Sisco will manage the transition. Pilot, a subsidiary of Cognizant Corporation, one of the three companies Dun & Bradstreet Corporation split into last year, develops interactive decision support software for business decision makers in large organizations. Its flagship product, Pilot Decision Support Suite, is used for analyzing corporate data; this technology was labeled EIS (executive information systems) before being re-cast as OLAP (on-line analytic processing). The decision to axe Kim is being presented in ways that suggest its parent dimply doesn’t feel Pilot is growing at a sufficient rate in what is seen as a bull market – decision support. The company, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, employs 350 worldwide and was previous to the 1994 buy a privately-held concern. As of December, Pilot was rumored to be interested in standing on its own too feet and seeking a Nasdaq listing via an IPO.
