Four BI Vendors Crest the Forrester Wave

The newly released “Forrester Wave: Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms, Q3 2008” from Forrester Research reveals a crowded pack of leaders in that market. SAP’s Business Objects and IBM’s Cognos, two mainstays of the Leaders region (the upper right corner of Forrester’s chart, where strength of a vendor’s current offering and its strategy are highest) are joined by Oracle and SAS Institute, two recent promotions from the Strong Performers section. 

The third component of the Forrester Wave -- market presence -- complicates winner/loser assessment but Business Objects appears to have the strongest current product and position in the business intelligence (BI) platform market, followed closely in both respects by Cognos. SAS Institute, anointed this year on the strength of its integration and history of growth, edges the others out in strategy, while Oracle rides directly behind the first three.

It’s likely that competition in the BI market will only intensify as time goes on. “Indicating that many large enterprise-grade BI vendors now 'get it,’ we expect more and more vendors to accumulate enough functionality to qualify for leadership positions,” writes Boris Evelson, principal analyst with Forrester research and author of the report.

Much of this functionality will come from acquisitions rather than partnerships. Evelson writes that SAP Business Objects “provides some of the best-in-class tools for each use case,” and lauds SAS as “the best one-stop BI shop that includes high-end analytics from a single vendor.” He adds that IBM for now must still rely on the partnerships Cognos developed, which places a heavier integration burden on the customer, and that Oracle is addressing the partner-or-purchase choice as well. “Oracle’s main BI challenge will continue to be a fine balancing act: supporting multiple redundant and overlapping products versus bringing the strategic products closer together and integrating the platform, [user interface], and other core features,” he writes.

There are many vendors in the Strong Performers area of Forrester’s chart as well. This year’s batch:

•     Actuate e.Reports, e.Spreadsheets, and BIRT;
•     Information Builders WebFocus;
•     Microsoft SQL Server 2005;
•     MicroStrategy;
•     SAP Netweaver BI (separate from Business Objects); and
•     Tibco Spotfire DXP.

Information Builders, MicroStrategy, and Microsoft are particularly close to the Leaders section, and will likely remain the companies who “get it” (in Evelson’s words) and increase future competition. The Tibco product is a new entrant.  

Behind the Strong Performers are two Contenders, both new to the evaluation:

•     Panorama Software NovaView; and
•     QlikTech QlikView.

These two companies, “while lacking the breadth of features to qualify them as single, large-enterprise BI solutions, are reputable Contenders,” Evelson writes. “In some very specific BI use cases, they even outperform the Leaders.” As such Forrester recommends that potential buyers properly and fully assess their BI needs before committing to any one platform.

News relevant to the customer relationship management industry is posted several times a day on destinationCRM.com, in addition to the news section Insight that appears every month in the pages of CRM magazine. You may leave a public comment regarding this article by clicking on "Comments" at the top; to contact the editors, please email editor@destinationCRM.com.

Related Articles

The 2007 Market Awards: Business Intelligence

As the market for business intelligence matures and users become more sophisticated, more companies are buying into BI.

Gartner Releases Its BI Magic Quadrant

Magic Quadrant '06: The analyst firm expects the business intelligence market to experience sustained growth as the technology includes more users within an organization.

Intelligent CRM Requires Business Intelligence

Gartner Business Intelligence Summit '08: The need for better CRM is one of the factors driving growth in the BI marketplace.

SAS Tops Gartner's BI Magic Quadrant

Magic Quadrant '07: The market will experience more growth as the technology includes more users within an organization while application and suite providers enhance their own offerings.

MicroStrategy and Microsoft Move Up in Gartner's BI Magic Quadrant

Magic Quadrant '08: The research firm's assessment of the business intelligence sector shows the two vendors joining SAS Institute, Oracle, Cognos, and Business Objects in the top segment.

Business Intelligence Comes Out of the Back Office

Information Builders Summit '08: Analysts weigh in on the BI industry and a changing market.

Oracle and SAP Surf Side-by-Side in Forrester Wave on Enterprise CRM

Forrester Wave on Enterprise CRM Suites '08: Forrester Research's latest on big-business CRM shows close competition between the two, with Microsoft coming on strong.

The 9 Fatal Flaws of Business Intelligence

A recent Gartner report bemoans the fact that "companies tend to view business intelligence as [just] a bunch of technology."

Gartner Gives BI a High 5

The research giant unveils five predictions for business intelligence in 2009.

Oracle Bolsters Business Intelligence Roadmap

Oracle BI Forum: Blending BI and performance management can lead to operational and management excellence.

Hot New BI Vendors Keep Things Cool

Gartner unveils its 2009 "Cool Vendors" in business intelligence and performance management.

The 4 Hidden Costs of Business Intelligence

A new Aberdeen Group report contends that BI could cost your organization more than you think, but some investments can help avoid budget blunders.

SMBs Find the Beef in BI Deployments

Aberdeen Group fleshes out the top reasons for business intelligence investments among small-to-midsize businesses.

New Challengers Added to Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence

Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence '10: Smaller vendors gain traction, but 75 percent of the market remains controlled by the top five vendors, with Oracle on top yet again.

7 Surf Atop the Forrester Wave of CRM Suites for Large Organizations

The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Large Organizations '10: Forrester Research names the seven top-performing vendors at the enterprise level.

Oracle Brings Out Business Intelligence 11g

"Oracle BI is definitely back," comments one industry analyst.

A Single Leader Appears in Forrester Wave for Open Source Business Intelligence

Forrester Wave for Open Source Business Intelligence '10: Forrester Research singles out Actuate BIRT among seven vendors rated on offerings, strategy, and market presence.

Forrester BI Wave Crammed With Leaders

The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms '10: Eight vendors qualify as Leaders in this year's report as industry-wide BI functionality and information management functionality improves.