BI/CPM survey 2008

Using technology to improve the way you do business

By Michael Burns

Welcome to this year’s vendor survey on business intelligence and corporate performance management. We decided to do a separate survey for BI/CPM this year instead of including it in our larger September survey on enterprise resource planning. We did the same for customer relationship management in last month’s issue and found the decision to be a good one in both cases. This year, we have 10 responses from BI/CPM vendors, up from eight last year. Some of the major players that were missing in the 2007 survey, such as Cognos and Microsoft, are also included. See the online version of this article for the survey chart.

In the September 2007 is-sue of CAmagazine, we pointed to a couple of acquisitions earlier in the year (including Oracle’s purchase of Hyperion) and wondered if and when the same would happen with Cognos. The answer was clear in November 2007, with IBM’s acquisition of the company. Other acquisitions in 2007 included Longview (by Exact), Business Objects (by SAP) and Applix (by Cognos).

According to research and advisory firm Gartner, “Megavendors are beginning to dominate the business intelligence market — in less than one year, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and IBM will have gone from accounting for a quarter of the market to owning over two-thirds of it.”

The acquisitions represent a growing trend toward providing end-to-end solutions. Initially ERP was a back-office application (financials, distribution, etc.). Then it came to include the front office (CRM, eCommerce). Now it encompasses BI and corporate performance management. ERP systems contain a ton of data that needs to be turned into information. That is BI’s job. CPM includes BI as well as budgeting, forecasting and consolidation.

There are other reasons for the acquisitions. Consultants can tailor BI to the needs of individual organizations (which helps explain IBM’s purchase of Cognos). As well, BI has been implemented mostly by large organizations. Today it is targeted to small and midsized organizations and the market potential is considered huge. As well, the costs of BI are falling, making it more affordable to smaller organizations.

The business case for BI is often improved decision-making but since that is an intangible benefit, it is often considered insufficient to justify the investment. An important tangible benefit would be the reduced time spent by senior executives in reviewing financial and operational information.

One technology considered to be a key component in BI is online analytical processing. This technology allows an executive to analyze financial and operational information quickly and easily. In the past, that executive would have had to make multiple requests for traditional reports, wait for them to come through, then spend more time doing the analysis. BI can also significantly reduce or eliminate the need for spreadsheets, which can be error prone and inefficient. They can also cause discrepancies between reports. The BI mantra, therefore, is “one version of the truth.”

As with all our surveys, we were unable to validate the information supplied to us by the vendors. Mistakes can be inadvertent (confusing the number of customers with the number of users, for example) or intentional. We don’t think there will be that many intentional mistakes, partly because the vendors will lose credibility if they are caught.

We hope you find our survey useful. If you have suggestions for improvement, please let us know.

2008 Corporate Performance Management / Business Intelligence Survey

Michael Burns, MBA, CA, is president of 180 Systems (www.180systems.com/), which provides independent consulting services, including business process review, system selection and IT audit. Contact: 416-485-2200 or mburns@180systems.com.