News & Views

January 29, 2010 from Gartner – “The market in 2009 was defined by the David and Goliathian struggle that occurred between resilient BI pure-play vendors and ostensibly omnipotent megavendors. The frenzy caused by major BI platform market consolidation in 2007 and 2008 gave way to a postacquisition hangover in 2009 in which megavendors’ customers reported greater overall dissatisfaction due, in large part, to the often messy postacquisition “digestion” process. Yet, despite megavendor acquisition “growing pains,” stack-centric buying led by applications and information infrastructure dominated BI platform investment decisions in 2009 with the top five vendors controlling 75% of the market. At the same time, however, based on the research conducted for this report and interactions with Gartner customers over the year, there is significant, if not euphoric, satisfaction with, and accelerated interest in, pure-play BI platforms. This is particularly true for smaller, innovative vendors filling needs left unmet by the larger vendors…”

180 View – If you went to Gartner’s website and tried to purchase this document, it would cost US$1,995.00.  I am not sure why this one was available at no charge. Gartner is a good starting point in the identification of products to consider, but I would not base decisions on it. Gartner’s research as per their website includes but is not limited to:

• Vendor briefings
• Surveys
• Vendor-provided references
• Industry contacts
• Client interviews
• Public sources, such as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, articles, speeches and published papers
• Input from Gartner analysts

It’s not based on hands on work or demonstrations but mostly on information provided from the vendor or clients that were hand-picked by the vendor. As well, vendors pay Gartner for their analysis. My suggestion is to do your homework and not to rely on the pundits.