Business intelligence set to take off company-wide

Business intelligence software will be among the top growth IT performers over the next few months and years as both Microsoft and Oracle roll out low cost, high performance and easy to use systems that take BI business-wide and operational – not just strategic and finance based. Why? Because both companies are on a course to make BI as embedded and universal as their already dominant databases, onto which BI functionality has been progressively grafted. Microsoft’s news this month of its intended acquisition of US-based partner ProClarity for its analysis and visualisation BI front ends, developed on the existing Microsoft BI, SQL Server 2005, Office and (most important) SharePoint Portal Server platform serves to illustrate the point. The upcoming release of 2007 Microsoft Office significantly broadens Microsoft’s reach in BI, and this acquisition will build on that with what the company terms ‘business-logic-driven guided analysis. As Microsoft puts it: “The goal is to reach every individual, add value to every decision, and help organisations align people and initiatives to business strategy.” And Panorama Software, which developed the OLAP technology originally sold to Microsoft and remains a significant BI player, agrees. “We strongly believe this will help Microsoft and its partners to drive better BI solutions,” says Eynav Azarya, CEO, Panorama Software. “Panorama plans to take full advantage … and integrate the new visualisation capabilities into our NovaView [scaleable middle-tier application server] platform.” So what of Oracle? A different picture for sure, but with its PeopleSoft and Siebel CRM (customer relationship management) acquisitions bedded in, technology solutions are appearing – and BI technologies are right up there, with the launch at the end of March of three significant bundles. Oracle’s SE1 is aimed at SME manufacturers with up to 50 BI users – so new territory for the giant, which says it’s set up for all levels of users wanting to run ad hoc departmental or business queries. Then there’s SE, which takes BI to the next level, containing Oracle products like Discoverer, ETL tool and reports. Pricing is around £17,000, to compete head on with Cognos, Business Objects, Hyperion, Micro Strategy, SAS and so on. But just as significant, according to Kevin Henderson, business intelligence solutions leader for Oracle in the UK, is the release of Oracle BI enterprise edition – which takes what was Siebel analytics products. “That takes the best aspects of the existing Oracle architecture and the Siebel tools, and it’s extremely strong – rated ‘most visionary’ by [analyst] Gartner.” All of which means that Oracles database and BI capabilities are suddenly available for heterogeneous database environments – like IBM, Microsoft and Teradata data warehouses. “The opportunity going forward is enormous with the link to our Oracle Applications suite and JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Siebel users,” says Henderson. And with gateways into SAP applications and others, plus connectivity through Oracle Fusion middleware, Oracle’s BI will be able to link to any data source. “We’re expecting huge rewards.” The only fly in the ointment: a lack of business understanding of the operational and business value of BI tools according to Oracle’s own research. Henderson: “It shows a real lack of awareness – 56% of IT directors claim to lack knowledge of BI despite 69% also saying it’s important to senior management and finance professionals running their organisations.” The saving grace: the same survey indicates a belief among 44% of respondents that BI will increasingly be used to improve business processes. “So this is use as operational intelligence: they’re saying that BI will not be elitist going forward just for key directors and managers. Everyone from front line call centre to the execs will need access to the right information.”