Business Objects steps up midmarket BI focus
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Business Objects has released the second of three planned versions of its Crystal Decisions business intelligence software suiteÂ aimed at midmarket users.
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Microsoft has started shipping the a BI tool set that lets users access its financial budgeting and forecasting capabilities through Excel and other Office applications.
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Business Objects SA's share price surged in Paris Thursday morning, as rumors swirled of a takeover bid from IBM Corp. or Oracle Corp.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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Business Objects released new software WednesdayÂ that combines EPM (enterprise performance management), BI, and data integration into a comprehensive suite aimed at CFOs and business finance managers.
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(Source: Tibco)  The future of business intelligence demands visualization capabilities that let users see the relationships among data, interactivity that lets them manipulate the data and an intuitive manner of working that suits the way business users think. Enterprise analytics enable business users to access the information and metrics relevant to their particular roles to assist the company in reaching its current goals and setting new ones for the future.
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SAP unveiled several products that combine its tools with those in its new Business Objects division.
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A new product lets workers combine simple bits of software to create business tools.
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(InfoWorld) - French software maker Business Objects released the first of three new versions of its business intelligence software tailored for small to medium-size companies, a market area poised for growth, the company said Monday. The product, Standard Edition, is cheaper than the company's enterprise product and designed for those new to business intelligence (BI) applications, adding setup wizards and online tutorials, said Todd Rowe, a vice president and general manager for the company's midmarket division. Standard Edition includes features drawn from the company's enterprise product, such as dashboards, ad hoc reporting and integration with Microsoft's Office applications, but consolidates what were separate modules into a simplified package, Rowe said. Business Objects was losing out on sales to midmarket businesses -- which can range from 100 to 1,000 employees -- because its enterprise product was too expensive for their budgets, Rowe said. Business Objects competes with CognosÂ and Hyperion SolutionsÂ at both enterprise and midmarket levels. The midmarket sector, however, is the most profitable as well as the fastest growing area, Rowe said. It comprises about 35 percent of the $5.9 billion BI market, growing at 12.5 percent annually, according to the company's projections and data from Crimson Consulting Group. Business Objects is hailing Monday's release as its most aggressive in two years, with Standard Edition launching in 62 countries in 12 languages, Rowe said. By June, Business Objects will release Professional Edition, which adds data integration capabilities. By the end of year, the Premium Edition will include scorecards, metrics and goals, which will allow businesses to do forward planning. That release will come before the end of the year. All editions include integration with Crystal Reports, the company's software for formulating data and delivering reports through a Web browser. Standard Edition is sold as a perpetual license, Rowe said. Pricing starts at $20,000 for five concurrent users.
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(InfoWorld) - Business Objects SA's share price surged in Paris Thursday morning, as rumors swirled of a takeover bid from IBM Corp. or Oracle Corp. Buying the French BI (business intelligence) software vendor could be a good way for IBM or Oracle to use the cash they have available, according to one analyst. The three companies declined to comment. "We don't comment on rumors," said Business Objects spokesman Philippe Laguerre. Oracle made a big push into the BI market on March 22 with the launch of three software bundles branded Oracle Business Intelligence Suite. The bundles combine Oracle's database, its Fusion middleware and analytics software it acquired with its purchase of Siebel Systems. That deal, worth almost US$6 billion, closed on Jan. 31. IBM already partners with BI vendor Cognos Inc., a rival of Business Objects. On March 7, IBM announced that it will work more closely with Cognos to develop BI software with a SOA (service-oriented architecture). At the time, analysts suggested that acquiring Cognos would be a logical next step for IBM. Such a move could be hastened if Oracle were to bid for Business Objects, said David Bradshaw, principal analyst at Ovum Ltd. in London. Bradshaw dismissed another rumor he had heard, that German ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor SAP AG could buy Business Objects. "They have not made many large acquisitions, and they already have their own BI technology," he said. The BI market is dominated by a group of large, independent vendors. Business Objects expects revenue to total $1.2 billion to $1.215 billion this year. Cognos expects revenue of $950 million to $970 million in its current financial year, which ends Feb. 28. Of the other large BI vendors, only Teradata belongs to another company (NCR Corp.), Bradshaw said. Based on Business Objects' market capitalization, a buyer would have to pay over â¬2 billion ($2.5 billion) for the company, he said. Business Objects and Cognos "have been around a while. Maybe the other players like having independents in the field," said Bradshaw. But should IBM and Oracle choose to change that status quo, buying Business Objects would be harder for Oracle than it looks, he said. "At first glance, it looks like a marriage made in heaven, but most of Oracle's customers already have at least one BI system," and often more, he said. Oracle applications have to work well with those different BI tools, and customers value that flexibility, he said. "Future customers would not want to be confined to having one BI tool." Trading in Business Objects shares opened in Paris at â¬24.80 on Thursday, up from the Wednesday closing price of â¬23.02. As the rumors spread, the price peaked at â¬25 but by the close of trading had settled back to â¬24.76, up 7.6 percent on the previous day's close.
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Information Builders unveiled a new version of its WebFocus BI tool set at its annual Summit User Conference held this week in Las Vegas.
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SQL Server 2005 offers compelling reasons to embrace the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform for information needs across your enterprise. This paper explains the extensive feature set from the perspective of business value. It will help you make informed decisions about upgrading or migrating your business intelligence platform to SQL Server 2005.
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IBM has announced a slew of new or upgraded products and services aimed at helping companies better integrate business processes and make their operations more efficient through the use of service-oriented architectures.
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InfoWorld - Business Objects has started to roll out a full suite of business intelligence (BI) software in the form of an online service, initially for customers using Salesforce.com applications.
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Vendors tout their efforts to improve security in BI tools and spreadsheets as they look to meet growing user demand for tools that limit access to confidential data.
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InfoWorld - IBM&#160;hopes to bring BI to a wider audience of midmarket customers with a new software stack developed in partnership with Business Objects SA, industry sources said.
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Company debuts new products that let businesspeople shuttle data from databases to mobile gadgets.
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A panel of users at Computerworld's BI Perspectives conference said more and more companies are putting BI tools in the hands of end users.