There are plenty of options in business intelligence, Angus Kidman reports

Published in AustralianIT, March 25 2003

COMPETITION is about to get a lot tougher in business intelligence software.

In February, Microsoft announced plans to enhance the BI reporting capabilities of its SQL Server platform, making it easier for users to query data sources directly, on tools such as Excel, without requiring separate business intelligence tools.

When that product debuts later in the year, companies producing dedicated BI products may have a harder time selling into Microsoft shops.

Gartner estimates global BI software sales will be $3.2 billion in 2003.

The sales are split between numerous vendors, including Ascential, Brio, Business Objects, Cognos, Computer Associates, Crystal Decisions, Hyperion Solutions, Informatica, Information Builders, MicroStrategy, NCR, Oracle, Sagent and SAS Institute.

In such a crowded market, some rationalisation seems inevitable.

Many BI users have tools from several vendors running simultaneously.

"The consolidation of BI vendors will continue in 2003, leading to a new round of mergers and acquisitions," predicts Gartner analyst Kevin Strange.

Microsoft's database market share is increasing rapidly, but Oracle remains the dominant player in the enterprise database field, according to IDC.

Vendors jockeying to offer increasingly comprehensive BI solutions are also driving rationalisation. Many early-stage BI systems used individual tools for functions such as data mining.

Managers are now looking to consolidate on a single BI platform. By doing so they may eliminate some criticisms of current systems.

"Most BI benefits remain elusive because too many deployments have resulted in a mish-mash of tools, multiple versions of the 'truth', and a failure to answer C-level executives' key decision-making questions," a recent Forrester Research report notes.

Deploying effective BI systems is also far from straightforward.

A survey of information executives by Appfluent finds that common problems include concerns over freshness of data, performance issues when accessing live data, and slow production of reports.

Some of those concerns can be addressed by running BI on a data warehouse rather than live data, but that limits the usefulness of the intelligence.

Despite such criticisms, the benefits of a good BI system, used properly, can be substantial.

A study of BI analytic projects by IDC finds they deliver a five-year return on investment of 431 per cent.

In a recent Gartner survey, 62 per cent of customers say they will increase their BI spending in 2003.