Issue 14: And then there were none...

by Vishal Daga - Netezza, Director

of Partner Marketing

"Danger and delight grow on one stalk." -- English Proverb

With the acquisitions of Hyperion, Business Objects and Cognos this year, the BI landscape has finally taken a turn that many have predicted for some time now. Given the growing prevalence and importance of BI, and the consolidating software ecosystem, this has not been a stretch prediction to make, by any means. The question is, what now? Is this a good thing or bad thing for the BI user? The answer, as to most things in life, is a bit of both in my view, and only time will really tell.

First, the potential for good. The tighter integration possibilities that this consolidation creates between the BI apps and the other components of their parent company's product portfolios -- including ERP and data integration applications, middleware technologies, and/or databases -- could ultimately result in a much richer and overall seamless experience for the BI user. For example, this shift has the potential to catalyze the adoption of BI capabilities within ERP applications, and accelerate the arrival of an operational BI experience, i.e., a BI world that does not involve a user switching to a different application and/or a reliance on power-users. Furthermore, the resources that the larger organizations can bring to bear can help advance product capabilities and customer BI adoption at faster rates than what the relatively smaller companies could have supported on their own.

Now, the potentially not so good. With size, comes, well, size, and that many times can be not such a good thing. The distractions, conflicting priorities and layers of bureaucracy that come along with size will make it harder for the BI businesses to be managed effectively inside of the larger organizations. It's not a coincidence that innovation and product adaptation to changing market needs are usually driven by smaller, more focused companies that are highly motivated to be entrepreneurial. In addition, the biases that the new organizations will create towards preferential integration with their own portfolio technologies can dilute the independence that most customers need and demand. If this happens, then customers will face hurdles in deploying best-of-breed technologies that are best suited to their needs.

Looking forward, whether the positives end up outweighing the negatives is something that remains to be seen. It's a promising sign that many of the acquirers have committed to keeping the BI companies as independent operating entities. In large part, how things ultimately net out will depend on the discipline that the acquirers demonstrate in adhering to this strategy. The good news is that while it's still very early in the game, based on our relationships and interactions with the BI players since the announcements, there are reasons to be optimistic. Perhaps you just can have your cake, and eat it too.

Vishal Daga