We recently interviewed BPM Partners’ John Colbert, who talked about five common attributes of failed business intelligence projects. One of these attributes is vendor consolidation in the business intelligence market creating software integration and obsolescence issues.
There has been significant merger and acquisition activity in the business intelligence market over the past 12 – 24 months. The impact business intelligence software upgrades, integration, maintenance and obsolescence have on deployed and in-development business intelligence projects can be massive.
Today, some business intelligence vendors have as many as six different solutions that ostensibly do the same things. When one vendor buys another, it is often hard to tell which products will end up on the “keeper” list and which will be abandoned by its new owner.
While no one has a crystal ball predicting the upcoming M&A activities in the business intelligence market, industry analysts often have more insight than most. Before selecting a business intelligence application, find a business intelligence expert to help you avoid your business intelligence project becoming collateral damage during the next round of M&A.
Kelley Kassa
Spotfire Blogging Team
Image Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art
