Business intelligence survey reveals mixed satisfaction in its results

Rethink IT, Oct, 2004

The largest number of data warehouse users were in the UK, followed by France and Germany. However, the country with the highest penetration of data warehouses was France, with 74% of respondents operating such tools, followed by Germany and the UK, both on around two-thirds. The Netherlands and Scandinavia, with smaller samples, revealed lower percentage penetration at around 30% each.

QIA

The majority of the installations were well established, perhaps reflecting the data warehousing boom some would say overhype--of the late 1990s. Almost 57% of the site with data warehouses or data marts had installed them more than three years ago. Of the 43% that had invested in new data warehouses during the IT recession--and the wave of disillusionment with this technology--about half installed their products between mid-2001 and mid-2003, while the other half, or 22% of the base, had put in their warehouse less than a year ago. Most of the newest investments had taken place in the UK and Germany.

The suppliers that had attracted the largest numbers of new customers in the past two years were Hyperion/Brio (the two companies merged this year), SAS and Business Objects. This seems to indicate a preference, at a time of cautious IT investment, for companies that are well established in specific business intelligence expertise, but which have solid track records and reasonable size. Of the new investments since mid-2001, one-third were in Business Objects, 32% in SAS and 20% in Hyperion/Brio.

SUPPLIER MARKET SHARE

The installed base is highly fragmented, with 13 different suppliers named. The majority of sites was using at least two data warehouses and/or analytics tools. Neatly 38% of those sites with data warehouses used tools from just one vendor, while 8% used products from more than two suppliers.

The most commonly chosen vendors, and the only ones installed at more than 20% of the sites with warehouses, were Hyperion, SAS, Oracle and Business Objects. Hyperion's lead is boosted still further by its merger with Brio, giving it a presence in 34% of sites. Independently, Hyperion is used by 26% and Brio by 8%.

It is noticeable that, with the exception of Oracle, general purpose software houses are less strong than business intelligence specialists. After the top four came Micro Strategy with presence in 15% of user sites and Cognus in 10%.

In terms of countries, Hyperion and Oracle had a broad spread, SAS was strongest in the UK and Netherlands, and Business Objects in its native France and in the UK.

Business Objects was the strongest product in terms of single-vendor installations. Of the sites that are running products from just one vendor, 32% were running Business Objects. The next strongest software in this respect was SAS.

Products from general purpose software houses tended to be mixed with those from specialists. All SAP users were running other tools, from a variety of suppliers; most Oracle users also had other more specialized products, commonly from SAS or Business Objects. Microsoft is the exception. Although a small presence in the sample at 7%, 75% of its sites used only Microsoft tools. Sites using products from smaller vendors generally ran them alongside other tools.