Business Objects Announces the Business Intelligence Bill of Rights; Industry Leader Boldly Declares the Rights of Every BI Customer

Business Wire, June 27, 2005

SAN JOSE, Calif. & PARIS -- The business intelligence industry is one of the most rapidly changing and fastest growing markets in software. As a result, the level of confusion and misconception about what organizations can expect from their BI vendor has dramatically increased. As the industry leader in business intelligence (BI), Business Objects (Nasdaq:BOBJ) (Euronext Paris ISIN code: FR0004026250 - BOB), has created the BI Bill of Rights, a powerful document which arms every organization with an understanding of what they should expect from their BI provider. Business Objects believes that every consumer of business intelligence, whether it be for a deployment today, or a purchase planned for tomorrow, has the right to a BI platform that allows their organization to realize the full power and potential of business intelligence.

Business Objects is the first and only business intelligence company to put pen to paper and create a BI Bill of Rights, which stands as the list of the company's promises to its customers. BusinessObjects(TM) XI, the company's industry-leading BI platform, succeeds in meeting and exceeding the rights listed within the Business Objects BI Bill of Rights. Neither Cognos nor any other company selling BI software today is offering that same guarantee.

"Rights are universal. Rights are something that all men, women, companies, and organizations should demand. That is why Business Objects created a BI Bill of Rights. We stand behind these rights and they are our promise to the people who use Business Objects products," said Rene Bonvanie, chief marketing officer at Business Objects. "Business Objects pioneered the business intelligence industry 15 years ago and no one understands what the BI consumer needs better than we do. We are the largest player in one of software's hottest growth segments, and as a leader, we must be held to the highest standard. The Business Objects BI Bill of Rights is this standard, and one that Cognos does not meet."

Following is the complete and unabridged text of the Business Objects BI Bill of Rights:

Business Objects BI Bill of Rights

     I.     The Right to a Single, Integrated Platform that Covers the
            Entire Spectrum of BI Capabilities -- Your BI platform
            should support all requirements for all users inside and
            outside the organization, including data integration,
            query and analysis, enterprise reporting, and performance
            management.

     II.    The Right to a BI Platform Built on a Modern Service
            Oriented Architecture -- You should demand a flexible BI
            platform with the power to quickly integrate with your
            existing applications, work with all major operating
            systems and industry standards, including Web services,
            and one that actually scales to expanded user needs.

     III.   The Right to a Ubiquitous BI Platform -- Your business
            intelligence solution should be everywhere. It should be
            embedded in the vast majority of packaged applications
            including those from SAP and Oracle/PeopleSoft. It should
            be integrated into all leading J2EE and .NET development
            environments including those from BEA, Borland, IBM, and
            Microsoft.

     IV.    The Right to BI that Understands Business Processes -- You
            should be able to embed business intelligence into every
            business process, so users within an organization can gain
            insight into business operations with a more process-aware
            and real-time enabled business intelligence solution.

     V.     The Right to a BI Platform that Works the Way You Do --
            You should demand unparalleled ease of use, from easy to
            use specialized tools to deep integration with Microsoft
            Office, your portal of choice, as well as disconnected and
            web usage.

     VI.    The Right to Create Any Report From Any Data Source -- You
            should have access to the world's leading report writer to
            author any report from any data source for any user within
            any application.

     VII.   The Right to a BI Platform with Integrated Performance
            Management -- You should be able to align with corporate
            strategy by tracking and analyzing key business metrics
            and goals via management dashboards, scorecards, and
            alerting.

     VIII.  The Right to Upgrade -- You should never be forced to
            re-license, re-train, or re-implement the BI system in
            order to upgrade to a new version of the product.

     IX.    The Right to Capture and Share BI Best Practices -- You
            should be able to build reports and then share the
            knowledge and insight you gain from them through threaded
            discussions. You should be able to use an integrated
            online encyclopedia that defines the common terms and
            formulae used in your company.

     X.     The Right to Access Information You Can Trust -- You
            should never be forced to make decisions on untrustworthy
            data. You should be able to track the information you use
            for decisions back to the original source systems in order
            to ensure its timeliness, accuracy, and credibility.

     XI.    The Right to BusinessObjects XI -- You have the right to
            own the industry's leading BI platform on the market
            today, with all the rights above guaranteed with
            BusinessObjects XI.