Communications and Technology Industry Research

Microsoft Corp., the global software giant, has recently been applauded by market researcher IDC (News - Alert), for its contributions to the growth of business intelligence (BI) market.

 

According to the research firm’s report, titled, Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2006 Vendor Shares, Microsoft (News - Alert) is one of the fastest-growing BI vendors of 2006 with a growth rate of 28 percent — the highest in industry.

 

In addition, the Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) Report has named the company’s SQL Server 2005 as the number one OLAP server currently available in the market. The application has also garnered recognition as an enterprise-class data platform, by a recent BZ Research study. The study concludes that nearly 74.7 percent enterprises depend upon SQL Server 2005 for smooth functioning of their business as compared to 54.5 percent, who rely on other OLAP servers.

 

Michael Saunders, corporate vice president and chief information officer for Kellwood Co., said in a statement, “Like most companies, we experience a constant flow of change. Having the ability to monitor my business, analyze key business data, act on it and see real-time results gives me the competitive edge my business needs to survive.”

 

“Microsoft has given us the ability and confidence to allow our employees at all levels to make informed decisions,” Saunders added.

 

As per the report from IDC, the global BI market has grown by nearly 11 percent in the previous year, making room for software companies to develop and deliver comprehensive BI tools

 

Dan Vesset, an analyst with IDC, stated, “Performance management can take on the form of various decision-support and reporting functions to improve revenue, profit and operational efficiency; decrease costs; uncover new opportunities; or mitigate risk.”

 

“Microsoft had another strong year in this market,” Vesset concluded.

 

In order to capture the growing BI market, Microsoft expects to launch its Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 by September 19, 2007 and SQL Server 2008 by the second quarter next year.

 

Chris Caren, general manager of Office Business Applications at Microsoft, commented, “We are focused on helping our customers achieve higher levels of business performance by allowing them to take advantage of the rich BI capabilities offered through Microsoft business intelligence.”

 

“We are excited to help companies integrate efficiently with one another to ensure all employees are held accountable for their actions across the entire business,” Caren continued.

 

Specifically designed to cater the emerging BI market, Microsoft’s PerformancePoint Server 2007 assists multitasking organizations harmonize their business activities, such as, monitoring, analyzing, and planning using a single application; thus establishing perfect coordination and control.

 

On the other hand, Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 will facilitate the creation of a reliable data platform to securely store information critical to the enterprise. Additionally, it will help enterprises to organize, manage, and deliver data on time, in a manner most suitable for their clients; thus minimizing time and cost incurred.

 

PerformancePoint Server seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Office. It can be easily adopted by users of the latter. It also integrates with the SQL Server 2005, aiding organizations maintaining heterogeneous enterprise data for smooth decision-making and achieving common business goals.

 

Santosh Mohanty, global director and head of the Business Intelligence and Performance Management practice at Tata Consultancy (News - Alert) Services Ltd., said, “TCS and Microsoft are working together to invest in developing industry-leading, world-class BI solutions that enable our customers to experience certainty.”

 

“We are seeing significant market momentum and double-digit growth for BI solutions built on the industry-leading Microsoft technology stack. This growth, being fueled by demand from some of the largest corporations in the world, has enabled us to aggressively push our strategic objective of building a $100 million BI practice on the Microsoft technology stack,” Mohanty concluded.

 

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