For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Market Overview: The Business Intelligence Software Market

Advanced Analytics Will Drive Growth To $14 Billion By 2014

by Holger Kisker, Ph.D., October 23, 2009

Business intelligence (BI) software is the tip of the application software pyramid. Pure functionality, no matter how sophisticated, is no longer sufficient to successfully support the changing business requirements of today. BI provides business guidance . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Business Case for BI: Now More Critical Than Ever

by Boris Evelson, August 25, 2009

Even as IT reduces or holds budgets steady in many enterprise software sectors, business intelligence (BI) initiatives remain front and center in most enterprise business and IT agendas. As the demand for pervasive and comprehensive BI applications increases, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Latest BI Adoption Trends - Still Ripe In Opportunities Across Regions, Company Sizes, And Industries  (566 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, August 6, 2009

This set of data charts examines BI adoption trends from Forrester's recent Enterprise And SMB Software Survey, North America And Europe, Q4 2008.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

BI Belt Tightening In A Tough Economic Climate

Practical Advice Applicable To Any Economic Condition

by Boris Evelson, February 20, 2009

As an economic downturn becomes a sobering reality, enterprises look for various ways to increase revenues and reduce costs. While overall IT budgets become targets for cost cutting, business intelligence (BI) applications and infrastructure need not . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

The GRC Technology Puzzle: Getting All The Pieces To Fit

Breaking Down The Complex GRC Technology Landscape

by Chris McClean, February 3, 2009

At a time when the global business community struggles to enhance internal controls and maintain long-term viability, improvements in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) programs can be well worth the investment. Technology plays an integral role in . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Business Intelligence

by Boris Evelson, November 21, 2008

Business intelligence (BI) is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information. It allows business users to make informed business decisions with real-time data that can . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Vendor Snapshot: Illuminate Solutions Breaks Through Traditional BI Barriers

by James G. Kobielus, August 8, 2008

Illuminate Solutions is a young Spain-based analytic database vendor that offers a compelling new approach optimized for complex, dynamic, ad hoc queries. Illuminate's correlation database uses what it calls "value-based storage" to greatly reduce the . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms, Q3 2008

by Boris Evelson, July 31, 2008

In Forrester's 151-criteria evaluation of enterprise business intelligence (BI) platform vendors, we found that IBM Cognos and SAP Business Objects maintain their leadership positions, while Oracle and SAS Institute move into leadership positions in enterprise . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Many Users Are Satisfied With Product Offerings From Mainstream BI Vendors  (396 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, June 12, 2008

Forrester surveyed 89 BI users as a part of the Wave evaluation of enterprise reporting and analysis platforms, expected to publish in Q3 2008. These data charts highlight the results from that user survey.

Operational BI Heats Up With An Infusion Of Context

by Keith Gile, June 5, 2006

The demand for operational business intelligence (BI) is increasing as companies look for ways to infuse context-aware reports and analysis into the workflow of decision-makers. New offerings by several BI and platform vendors target both the application . . .

Microsoft Buys ProClarity: This Small Acquisition Makes A Big Difference In Microsoft's BI Portfolio

by Keith Gile, April 19, 2006

The small investment Microsoft just made in business intelligence (BI) by acquiring ProClarity will pay big dividends for Microsoft customers — giving them a bona fide front-end BI product to leverage the SQL Server Analysis Services and Reporting Services . . .

Actuate Strong In Layout, Scalability For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Actuate iServer v8 provides a platform for developing and deploying reporting applications in support of analytic and enterprise reporting. The product offers comprehensive application development capabilities with strength in report development and dissemination, . . .

Cognos A Leader In BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI) offers a single, strong BI reporting and analysis product for support of analytic and enterprise reporting. The product is strong in all three areas — analytic functionality, application development, and usability with . . .

SAS Strong In Advanced Analytics, Data Access For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

SAS's SAS9 BI v9.1.3 provides a solid business intelligence (BI) product for analytic reporting, but has clear limitations in enterprise reporting. The product provides comprehensive data access to most RDBMSes and MDDBs, along with mainframes and legacy . . .

Microsoft Low Cost To Scale For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Microsoft's business intelligence (BI) technology, including SQL Server 2005 with Integration Services for data integration, Reporting Services for production reporting, and Analysis Services for analytic functionality, provides a solid, albeit incomplete, . . .

The Forrester Wave™: BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms, Q1 2006

Business Objects And Cognos Lead In Our Product Evaluation

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Forrester evaluated 10 leading business intelligence (BI), database, and application vendors across 92 criteria and found Business Objects has established early BI platform leadership, followed by Cognos. Hyperion, MicroStrategy, and SAS offer strong . . .

Hyperion Strong In OLAP, Integrated Security For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Hyperion System 9 BI+ is an integrated platform built on a framework that supports many Hyperion Solutions applications and tools, including performance management, financial budgeting/planning/consolidations, and business intelligence (BI). The product . . .

Information Builders Strong In Data Access, Scalability For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Information Builders WebFOCUS 7 provides a strong application development platform for developing and deploying operational business intelligence (BI) apps. The product provides comprehensive data access, excellent application scalability, and security . . .

SAP Strong In Application Integration For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

SAP NetWeaver 2004 is an integration and application platform. The product provides comprehensive business intelligence (BI) application development tools and capabilities targeted at operational BI apps embedded within composite application processes, . . .

Oracle Strong In Java Development, Security For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.2 provides a Java application-centric business intelligence (BI) reporting and analysis amalgam of products bundled within the Oracle 10g database and Oracle 10g application server for support of analytic and enterprise . . .

MicroStrategy Strong In OLAP Functionality For BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

The MicroStrategy 8 platform provides a solid business intelligence (BI) product for analytic and enterprise reporting. The offering provides strong OLAP capabilities with extended access to SAP BW cubes, along with strong administration and security . . .

Business Objects Leads In BI Reporting And Analysis Platforms

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q1 2006

by Keith Gile, February 8, 2006

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 provides a strong, integrated reporting and analysis platform that includes a best-of-breed solution for both analytic reporting in WebIntelligence XI and enterprise reporting in Crystal Reports XI. The product offers comprehensive . . .

Standardizing On A Single BI Reporting And Analysis Platform: Possible? Yes. Practical? No

by Keith Gile, October 25, 2005

Standardizing on a single business intelligence (BI) reporting and analysis solution is a good idea in theory, as the results would be lower costs for developing and maintaining reports, greater consistency in the data surfaced by the reports, and lower . . .

Keeping IT Sane In A Crazy BI World Of Excel

Balancing The Demand For Control And Flexibility Is Possible

by Keith Gile, June 29, 2005

Microsoft Excel is not a business intelligence (BI) tool; however, it is one of the most popular productivity tools used in business intelligence to consume and manipulate data. To exploit its features within the context of BI, Excel should be integrated . . .

Actuate Pioneers Open Source Business Intelligence And Reporting

by Keith Gile, September 15, 2004

Open source and business intelligence (BI) have remained mutually exclusive until Actuate joined the Eclipse Foundation and proposed a BI and reporting initiative. As a strategic developer and board member of the Eclipse Foundation, Actuate is leading . . .