Forrester: 'Overname Cognos is defensieve zet'

Computable haalt een interessante analyse van Forrester Reseach aan. Zowel IBM als SAP zijn reactief ten opzichte van de beweging die ondermeer Oracle en MIcrosoft hebben ingezet. Microsoft´s visie om BI een integraal onderdeel van haar platform te maken ("BI for the masses") slaat enorm aan ...

... De overnames van SAP en IBM, die respectievelijk de bi-leveranciers Business Objects en Cognos kochten, zijn defensieve zetten. Beide bedrijven roepen al jaren dat ze hun bi-portfolios organisch willen laten groeien. Dat zegt Forrester-analist Boris Evelson.

Aangezien SAP en IBM hun business intelligence portfolio's niet snel genoeg organisch kunnen laten groeien, moesten ze toegeven aan de druk van Oracle (met twee top bi-producten van Siebel en Hyperion op zak) en Microsoft (dat na de overname van Proclarity aardig aan kracht heeft gewonnen). De overnames van respectievelijk Business Objects en Cognos zijn hiervan het resultaat. ...

Source: Forrester: 'Overname Cognos is defensieve zet'
Date Published: Tue, 13 Nov 2007

Forrester: Microsoft Is Making Its Move In Business Performance Solutions

Microsoft is not there yet, but defenitly has momentu, in the Business Performance Solutions market according to Forrester ..

... Microsoft's visionary approach and massive market presence make the September 2007 launch of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 a significant event for the Business Performance Solutions (BPS) market.

Microsoft is endeavoring to make business performance information ubiquitous via Office, while delivering enterprise-class functionality that will appeal to large organizations as well as the midmarket.

The initial release puts Microsoft into the Strong Performer category. Considerably more refinement and prepackaged content will be needed before Microsoft can move up among the category leaders. ...

Source: Microsoft Is Making Its Move In Business Performance Solutions
Author: "Paul D. Hamerman"
Date Published: Wed, 10 Oct 2007

Mercury News: Oracle rival SAP plans to buy Business Objects for $6.8 billion

 

Business Intelligence is, very much like Enterprise Content Management, a field that is consolidating very rapidly. Business Objects seems the 'victim' in this process ...

... SAP plans to spend $6.8 billion to buy software maker Business Objects, the companies said Sunday.

The deal comes months after a SAP competitor - Redwood City-based Oracle - picked up a business smaller than Business Objects with a similar mission.

SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, with offices in the Bay Area, said the board of Business Objects, based in Paris, with offices in San Jose, expects to recommend the offer to its shareholders soon.

Under the terms of the agreement, SAP will pay 42 euros ($59.35) a share in cash.

SAP develops software that businesses use for payroll and supply-chain management. Business Objects creates software that helps businesses analyze their sales data.

The move comes after rival Oracle said in March that it would buy the financial services and business software company Hyperion for $3.3 billion, as both Oracle and SAP attempt to grow their presence in the mid-size-company market.

But Henning Kagermann, SAP's chief executive, and Business Objects officials said this deal was different because their two companies don't have the same amount of overlap as Oracle and Hyperion.

Business Objects would operate as a stand-alone business within SAP. ...

Source: Mercury News

Microsoft Solution Provides Innovative, Easy-to-Use Performance Management Capabilities

More backgroupnd and information about Microsoft PerformancePoint Server 2007 :

Q&A: Chris Caren, general manager of Office Business Applications, discusses how Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help businesses large and small – and their employees – use Microsoft Business Intelligence broadly to better manage their business.

Source: Microsoft Solution Provides Innovative, Easy-to-Use Performance Management Capabilities

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Extends Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Solution

It's here, Microsoft Performance Point Server 2007. This means Microsoft is all set to provide organisations with the next wave of BI tooling. Taking BI from the boardroom to every room in the organisation ...

Microsoft is poised to reach more decision-makers than ever before.

...

As part of its commitment to providing industry-leading business intelligence solutions, Microsoft Corp. has launched Microsoft^® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007, an application that enables companies to drive performance through monitoring, analyzing and planning their business using one integrated solution. Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) allows more people at all levels of an organization to make better decisions, and has the vision of reaching every decision-maker and adding value to every decision. With Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, Microsoft is building on its existing BI solution to enable companies to drive strategy development, alignment and accountability across the entire organization.

“First we built a highly scalable BI platform, then we built BI tools with an unparalleled ease of use. Today we are extending customer value by bringing an integrated performance management application to market,” said Chris Caren, general manager of Office Business Applications at Microsoft. “Our goal as a leading BI provider is to deliver the most complete and integrated BI product line with unparalleled ease of use, and this matches what customers have been waiting for.”

Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 takes the same approach as the rest of the Microsoft Business Intelligence product line — Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is simple to use because of the familiar look and feel of the Microsoft Office interface, and it puts intelligence right where people work and collaborate. Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is built to meet the functional and performance requirements of a large enterprise, but its competitive pricing allows companies of all sizes to use the application broadly throughout the organization. The application is very flexible, allowing businesspeople to build and manage plans, workflows and rules, while IT centrally controls security and information. ...

Source: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Extends Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Solution
Date originally published: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:30:00 GMT

Computable : Omzet BI-markt groeit flink

Computable refereert naar een onderzoek van IDC naar de markt voor BI oplossingen. Goed te zien dat Microsoft niet alleen bij de top 10 grootste spelers hoort, maar tevens de snelst groeiende partij is met een groei van 28,1% :

... Vrijwel alle leveranciers van oplossingen voor business intelligence (bi) melden een aanzienlijke toename van de verkoopcijfers. Onderzoek toont aan dat het aantal zakelijke gebruikers van de software nog wel achterblijft.

In 2006 groeide de markt voor bi-oplossingen met 11,5 procent. Tegenwoordig bedraagt de omzet wereldwijd een slordige 6,25 miljard dollar (4,7 miljard euro). Dat becijferde onderzoeksbureau IDC. Van de vijf grootste leveranciers van business intelligence software (zie onderstaande lijst) groeide de bi-tak van Microsoft met 28,1 procent het snelst. Ook bij SAS was een aanzienlijke toename van de bi-verkoop zichtbaar: 16,6 procent.

De tien grootste bi-leveranciers hadden in 2006 bij elkaar een marktaandeel van 61,5 procent. Dat dit ruim twee procentpunten minder is dan het jaar daar voor, is te wijten aan de opmars van nieuwe leveranciers. Ook bij hen zit de groei er namelijk goed in. Zo verdubbelde QlikTech op een paar procentpunten na zijn jaaromzet en nam de omzet van concurrent Panorama in 2006 toe met 67 procent. ...

Bron: Computable.nl

Microsoft PerformancePoint Server Data Sheets

This download includes all product data sheets: overview, analytics, monitoring, reporting, and planning

Link to PerformancePoint Server Data Sheets

Forrester: Ouch! Get Ready — Spreadsheets Are Here To Stay For Business Intelligence

Spreadsheets — the most widely used business intelligence (BI) tool — are a permanent fixture in enterprises because no other analytical application outperforms them in flexibility, ease of use, and ubiquity. Spreadsheets' role in BI is no longer limited to simple import/export mechanisms; they now play an integral role in all layers of the BI stack. Yet the lack of controls and security and integrity issues create tremendous challenges. To minimize risks while gaining the inherent BI value of spreadsheets, information and knowledge management professionals must discriminate between the different ways spreadsheets are used. Then, they must help users apply advanced spreadsheet tools and techniques to their daily jobs, while also implementing a tightly controlled (or closely monitored) environment for critical production processes that rely on spreadsheet data. In turn, vendors should take advantage of this market opportunity by introducing tools that will bridge the gap between spreadsheet management and spreadsheet usage in the BI process.

Link to Ouch! Get Ready — Spreadsheets Are Here To Stay For Business Intelligence

Microsoft Excel is most likely the most widely used BI tool in the world ...

Microsoft has made a good next step by introducing Excel Services.

Excel Services is a Microsoft Office SharePoint technology that makes it simple to use, share, secure, and manage Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbooks (.xslx, xslb) as interactive reports in a consistent way throughout the enterprise.

Check here for more detail on the Excel Services architecture

White paper over nieuwe business intelligence-mogelijkheden

Op de Microsoft NL site staat een goed White paper over nieuwe business intelligence-mogelijkheden :

Business intelligence lijkt onderhand een modewoord. Er wordt veel over geschreven en gepraat, en niet voor niets: wie over de juiste informatie beschikt, kan betere beslissingen nemen in een korter tijdsbestek. Onafhankelijk bureau Butler Group Subscription Services onderzocht daarom de business intelligence-mogelijkheden en nam daarvoor de nieuwe reeks 2007 Office-producten onder de loep.

Samenvatting van de onderzoeksresultaten

• Office SharePoint maakt alle business intelligence-informatie doorzoekbaar en eenvoudig te delen met alle medewerkers in het bedrijf.
• Excel 2007 heeft sterk verbeterde en makkelijk toepasbare visualisatiemogelijkheden.
• kan fungeren als interface voor SQL Server Analysis and Reporting Services.
• Excel-spreadsheets kunnen met andere applicaties worden geïntegreerd door de web services en API's in Excel Services.
• De 2007 Microsoft Office system servers zijn gebonden aan het Windows Server-besturingssysteem.
• Internet Explorer biedt de beste browser-interface voor administratieve taken.

Downloaden

U kunt het volledige rapport 'Technology Audit Business Intelligence' van de Butler Group Subscription Services downloaden in pdf-formaat.

Download de white paper (pdf, 446 KB)

Internetnews: Microsoft Adds SQL Server Note to 2007 Drumbeat

It's really very good to see how product development is aligned to bring all our 'moving parts' together into 1 very well integrated platform en evenly important 1 integrated user experience. No one can do this quite as well as Microsoft ...

... REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft (Quote) released enhancements to SQL Server 2005 that it hopes will make it a more significant player in the business intelligence (BI) space.

The new features, which are part of the new Service Pack 2 (SP2), tie in closely with reporting capabilities in Excel and Visio that were introduced with Office 2007, and ultimately should help Microsoft sell PerformancePoint 2007 when it is rolled out later this year.

Francois Ajenstat, director of SQL Server marketing at Microsoft, said that SP2 includes data mining add-ins for the 2007 Microsoft Office system that enable data mining functionality from SQL Server Analysis Services to be used directly within Excel 2007 and Visio 2007.

Repeating the company's mantra that customers can get more out of their line of business applications when they are presented in familiar Office productivity tools, Ajenstat told internetnews.com that "we're bringing BI to where the users live."

SQL Server 2005 now also allows users to seamlessly consume and manage reports in SharePoint Server.

"So now SharePoint can host BI info and users can access both structured and unstructured data in the same environment," he added. ...

... "Our goal is BI for everyone," noted Ajenstat. ...

Source : Internetnews.com

Microsoft Advances Its Business Intelligence Solution

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 to bring performance management to all employees.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 5, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of the first community technology preview (CTP) for its integrated performance management application Microsoft^® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007. Scheduled for general availability in mid-2007, Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 brings together next-generation monitoring, analytics and planning capabilities in a complete performance management application. Beginning today, customers can visit http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?siteid=181 to download the first bits of code and test the product’s capabilities in a real-world business environment.

Office PerformancePoint Server CTP 1 will combine the planning, budgeting, forecasting and financial consolidation capabilities of the product code-named “BizSharp” and the scorecarding functionality of Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager Server 2005. CTP 2, scheduled for early 2007, will incorporate the functionality of CTP 1 and analytics from ProClarity^® 6.2. Microsoft plans to release either one or two additional CTPs before the general availability of the product scheduled for mid-2007.

“We continue to invest in our business intelligence solution to bridge the gap between people and the information needed to drive business success,” said Chris Capossela, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Division. “Today’s milestone brings us one step closer to our goal of enabling decision support and superior performance management across the enterprise.”

Continue : Microsoft PressPass

Microsoft's BI porposition is really taking shape with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 on the horizon ... In the slipstream of this CTP I expect more information / handson experience to be shared. I haven't looked, but I do think the product team must have a blog as well. Will come back to that ...

Microsoft is Announcing Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

The introduction of PerformancePoint Server 2007 is another major step forward for Microsoft and turns BI capability in the hand for potentially every Information Worker ….

… REDMOND, Wash. — June 6, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, a complete performance management (PM) application including business scorecarding, analytics and planning functionality that enables companies to more effectively plan and manage their businesses. This new application expands Microsoft’s growing line of business intelligence (BI) products with a new focus on performance management solutions. Microsoft has established a unique position in expanding the delivery of BI to everyone by focusing on an easier-to-use experience while also delivering the high performance and outstanding price performance businesses require.

Microsoft’s vision for business intelligence is based on three major goals:

• BI for everyone. By providing a user experience in the Microsoft Office system along with the scale and high performance of Microsoft’s BI platform, organizations can afford to deliver the right information to more employees so they can make the right decisions — small or large — every day.
• Enterprise-grade reliability, high-performance platform. Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 delivers comprehensive capabilities for data integration and transformation (Integration Services); analytical query, calculation, and data mining (Analysis Services); and reporting (Reporting Services); thus helping people at all levels in an organization transform valuable data into shared information they can act on.
• Business view above the data. Managers can synthesize information across multiple systems and multiple parts of the organization to give them a more strategic and forward-looking view of the business than they can get from transactional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

…

Read on : Microsoft.com

Should you be interested in learning more about Microsoft’s BI strategy, then there a Q&A on this topic for you with Lewis Levin, the corporate VP of Microsoft Office Business Applications

Q&A: Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Strategy 

The corporate VP of Microsoft Office Business Applications, Lewis Levin, discusses the new performance-management offering, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and the company's approach to business intelligence.