07/09/2007

A survey, conducted by TekSouth and LogiXML, of business intelligence (BI) professionals worldwide reveals that while they overwhelmingly believe that their companies can benefit from the insights BI provides, the perceived high costs of implementing a BI system have prevented more than two-thirds of them from doing so throughout their firms.

ebizQ received the following details:

A majority of survey respondents also believe that corporate-wide implementation of BI systems supports the opportunity for greater insight and wider access. They said it delivers increased value over department-level BI, even though the latter may cost less and provide a more targeted focus to specific information.

The survey was conducted last month on behalf of Teksouth Corporation (www.teksouth.com), a veteran provider of data management and analysis systems, and LogiXML (www.logixml.com), the leader in interactive, Web-based business intelligence. More than 250 responses were received from around the world, from companies ranging from Global 100 to mid-sized enterprises.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 89 percent favor a "BI on-demand” approach, where workers can ask the questions they want instead of relying on pre-formed queries;



• 58 percent feel that any knowledge worker should have access to business intelligence tools;



• 43 percent perceive the cost of implementing corporate-wide BI as "prohibitive;” and



• 30 percent want a BI solution, but are waiting for costs to drop before implementing one.

"These findings confirm what we hear in the field quite often,” said Steve Wilsher, Teksouth's Chief Executive Officer. "Based on past experience, potential customers perceive that BI systems are hugely expensive to install and maintain. Teksouth and LogiXML have devised a new approach, combining advanced BI tools that provide comprehensive functionality, with a fixed-price approach that helps firms minimize and quantify the costs of implementation, as well as accurately projecting the return on their investment.”

Companies like Teksouth and LogiXML have implemented solution-based offerings that are designed to integrate and produce superior results at reduced cost, such as Teksouth's EntelliCache(TM) ad hoc query acceleration software and the LogiXML Logi 8(TM) BI reporting and analysis platform.

"The survey results reflect a substantial difference in 'perception versus reality' in the BI market,” said Arman Eshraghi, LogiXML's founder and CEO. "What survey respondents clearly want is affordable, corporate-level business intelligence, and they want it available right now. Firms like Teksouth and LogiXML are achieving these results for customers today.”

Other findings from the survey are:

• Fewer than 40 percent have BI deployed. More than 37 percent of respondents said they either have company-wide BI functionality deployed, or will have it deployed within a year. An additional 39 percent said it is on the drawing board, with no firm timetable scheduled;



• 75 percent believe blending strategic and tactical works best. By a margin of almost two to one, respondents believe BI should address both strategic and tactical objectives, even if it means designing and implementing a larger (and more costly) system at their firm; and



• 63 percent say BI is underappreciated. While business intelligence professionals may understand its advantages, they may not be successfully communicating its benefits within their companies. More than 63 percent said some people at their firms do not understand or appreciate its value. In addition, almost 40 percent said they have no budget for BI projects scheduled for 2008.