Leading companies are under pressure to select and deploy business intelligence solutions that are both efficient and affordable for the long term. Seasoned IT leaders realize that business intelligence is a permanent strategy; therefore, they plan for the long term by selecting software and hardware that allows them to grow affordably and efficiently. Many have tried homegrown or cobbled-together solutions that eventually began to drain corporate resources, as they were expensive to maintain and time-consuming to administrate. More >>

Operational Business Intelligence In Banking

BI tools are being used by banks for historical analysis, performance budgeting, business performance analytics, employee performance measurement, executive dashboards, marketing and sales automation, product innovation, and regulatory compliance. More >>

Challenges to Operational BI

Operational business intelligence (BI) represents a turning point in the evolution of BI. Traditionally, BI has been the province of technically savvy business analysts who spend many hours with sophisticated tools analyzing trends and patterns in large volumes of historical data to improve the effectiveness of strategic and tactical decisions. But operational BI changes this equation: it moves BI out of the back room and embeds it into the fabric of the business, intertwining it with operational processes and applications that drive thousands of daily decisions. In essence, operational BI merges analytical and operational processes into a unified whole. More >>

IT To Drive Aggressive Growth Strategy Of Essel Propack

Essel Propack, a manufacturer of laminated and plastic tubes has six plants in India and 17 others, spread across the globe. The company’s aggressive growth plans include doubling its revenue to $500 million by the end of 2010. Keeping in line with its inorganic growth strategy, the top management is looking to its IT department to supply the thrust necessary to drive this aggressive growth. More >>

Perspective on the SAP Acquisition of Business Objects

SAP recently announced its plans to acquire Business Objects for $6.8 Billion. BI-Group has closely followed this announcement & would like to share the perspectives on the impact of this acquisition on the BI market.

A Shakeout in the BI Market

This acquisition is a continuation of a shakeout process in the BI market space. Although Business Objects has grown to considerable size through a long series of acquisitions, the acquisitions have masked some fundamental weaknesses in its technology offerings. Business Objects’ BI products are fragmented, lacking both scalability and integration, making them inappropriate for many applications in the new generation of enterprise BI.

Important Questions to Ask About This Acquisition

1. Why was Business Objects so eager to be acquired?
It is believed that Business Objects needed to be acquired because it had accumulated a large collection of non-integrated technologies in a market where organic technical integration is essential for providing enterprise BI solutions.

2. Did SAP rush into the purchase of Business Objects?
Some analysts suggest that SAP rushed into the purchase of Business Objects and paid a premium price, even though Business Objects warned that Q3 revenues and earnings would be well below Wall Street estimates. One must wonder whether the acquisition was a defensive move by SAP to prevent a competitor from acquiring Business Objects.

3. Will Business Objects’ customers be forced to undergo even more major migrations?
Unless SAP maintains Business Objects purely as a portfolio investment, it is likely that Business Objects’ architecture will change to improve integration with the SAP suite.

4. Will Business Objects’ technology become even less applicable for data warehouses?
As SAP influences the Business Objects’ product set to be more aligned with the needs of the SAP BI architecture, the architecture and design priorities of Business Objects’ products will likely move away from data warehousing.

5. How will Business Objects and SAP reconcile their overlapping technologies?
There is significant overlap within SAP and Business Objects’ product suites. Customers with products that are undergoing integration will face painful migrations. Customers with products that are not being integrated face the likelihood that SAP will slow down development on those products, and ultimately “sunset” them.

Significant Areas of Product Overlap Between Business Objects and SAP

Product Category	Business Objects	SAP
Dashboards and Scorecards	Xcelsius, Dashboard Manager, Crystal Vision	Visual Composer, Web Application Designer
Query, Analysis and Reporting	Web Intelligence, OLAP Intelligence, Voyager, Crystal Reports, Cartesis, Inxight Software	BEx Web Analyzer, BEx Analyzer, ABAP™, BEx Report Designer, Pilot
Office Plug-ins	Live Office	BEx Analyzer
Application Infrastructure	Nsite (on demand), crystalreports.com Vertical and Horizontal Apps	NetWeaver xApps Vertical and Horizontal Apps
Desktop Design Tools	Desktop Intelligence, Designer	BEx Query Designer
Portals	InfoView	SAP NetWeaver Portal
Performance Management or CPM	SRC, ALG Software, Cartesis	SEM-BCS, BPS, Netweaver® BI-Integrated Planning, OutlookSoft, Netweaver® BI Advanced Planner and Optimizer, mySAP ERP Express Planning
Master Data Management	Metadata Manager, Composer	SAP NetWeaver® Master Data Management
ETL/EII/EIM	Data Integrator (Acta), Data Federator (Medience), Data Quality (Firstlogic, FUZZY! Informatik)	Data Extraction routines to populate SAP BI
Mobile	Mobile Interactive Viewing (InfoView Mobile)	SAP NetWeaver® Mobile

About Business Intelligence Group

Business Intelligence Group on LinkedIn is primarily created for CIO, BI professionals, BI consultants, BI Vendors, Managing Directors, Directors, CMD, CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, Presidents and Vice Presidents.

Business Intelligence Group discusses on the creation, application and exploitation of advanced tools for a new generation of Business Intelligence systems. Existing Business Intelligence systems are primarily concerned with processing and mining conventional databases. While the Business Intelligence Group provides forum to discuss on optimizing this process, the Group also discusses on designs and implementation of algorithms to integrate new types of data into the Business Intelligence process - including text and web-served information.

The BI group is dedicated to sharing, supporting and promoting the interests of individuals involved in any aspect of business intelligence, reporting & analytics. Interests of all are represented - whether as information users or suppliers.

It provides a platform to reflect business intelligence and reporting issues for all those with shared interests, and to develop networking opportunities.

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