Panorama Business Intelligence

I know that any reader of this post will keep thinking about the fact that Panorama has a “coopetition” relationship with Microsoft, on one hand we partner closely to extend their BI platform and on the other we compete on the BI applications.… That is true, and I won’t lie, I think the discontinuity of PerformancePoint Server as a standalone BI product has a MAJOR positive impact on Panorama, but in this post I want to give my analysis on what this actually means for the world of BI and more specifically Microsoft’s future BI strategy.

First, some facts:

• In 2006, Microsoft picked a strategy to build a dedicated BI product called PerformancePoint Server. The idea was that MSFT will compete with pure play BI vendors such as Panorama, Cognos and others with a complete BI strategy.
• PPS (PerformancePoint Server) included 3 modules, BPF (Budgeting, planning and forecasting), Analytics and Scorecarding.
• Microsoft wanted to make PPS server the “ultimate BI Application suite for the enterprise” by investing in future versions that will focus on making BI better and more competitive when compared with other pure play products.
• The analytics solution in PPS was entirely based on the Proclarity product acquired in April 2006.

What did Microsoft announce today?

• Microsoft will not have a future version of PerformancePoint Server
• Meaning Microsoft has given up on its vision to have a dedicated BI product that will compete with pure play providers.
• Microsoft will not build anymore Budgeting, planning and forecasting solutions and customers will have to rip and replace with other 3rd party products
• There is not going to be any Proclarity product any longer (some Proclarity employees were let go yesterday)
• Scorecard and analytics features will now be developed in SharePoint and branded PerformancePoint Services

What does all this mean?

• Microsoft PerformancePoint Server was NOT a successful product otherwise Microsoft would have not stopped investing in it.
• Microsoft gave up the ambition to be a pure-play competitor for BI application products and instead has decided to add more value to its core Office products, by adding the BI features to them (which is not the same as a full blown BI solution)
• This means that Office users will be able to do SOME analysis and SOME scorecarding but not expect to get the full BI functionality that can replace products from companies like Panorama, Business Objects or Cognos
• Microsoft is going back to the roots of being a platform provider (SQL Server as a leading BI platform with new innovations on that side)

Why won’t SharePoint be a great alternative for pure-play BI products?

• There is a major difference between a “dedicated product” that has a team and a budget to take the product forward vs. a product that has many different features in different areas and all “compete” on mindshare and investment.
• On the current upcoming version of SharePoint as well as future versions, BI feature have to “compete” on resources vs. investments in search, collaboration, workflow and portal features which have a higher demand in the market.
• This means that the amount of BI functionality and pace of innovation will much more limited.
• Microsoft basically decided to combine the products TO SAVE COSTS and fired many from the BI team, this means LESS investment in BI when compared to last year and will result in LESS BI capabilities from MSFT.

What should you do and expect in the future:

• First and foremost, BI now will be part of Office 14. So whether or not you will like the features of MSFT BI in SharePoint and Office you will have to upgrade to the new stack.
• For those that do go through the upgrade, they can expect to get some good value from SharePoint and Office for BI if looking for BASIC and departmental BI features that can be used lightly in the organization.
• For companies or ISVs that are OK developing their own BI solution SharePoint, as well as other MS products like Visio, Excel, Reporting services are a great toolset to use to build a custom solution
• For customers who are looking for a full enterprise BI solution, Microsoft WILL NOT be a good solution. As such a solution needs to have a dedicated focus, which MSFT just gave up on!
• Customers that invested in the MSFT BI PLATFORM (SQL) should stick to it as it is by far the most powerful and capable BI platform today
• Customers should now look at 3rd party solutions like ours to ensure they chose the best product that has the lowest TCO and the fastest ROI and “time to production”, that can work best on top of the existing platform investments.
• Customers of Proclarity should look for companies that can migrate them to a new solution in the cheapest way (Warning… Advertising…. Panorama does that).

Would love to hear you thoughts.

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