4 + 2 Leading Commercial Vendors of BI software

May 6, 2008 · Filed Under BI

With the dust settling from the 2007 acquisitions, four vendors dominate the business intelligence software market. Information Week recently published a detailed article about the four bright lights of BI, who’s products comprise about half of all the business intelligence installations out there. These are the four, plus two others that are close to being on this list:

IBM - IBM has a broad line of business intelligence and data warehousing products, sold by its Information Management software division. It’s recent acquisition of Cognos rounded out the offerings and bolstered IBM’s commitment to being a “neutral player”, being able to work with data from any source.
Microsoft - Compared to the other vendors listed here, Microsoft has only recently entered the enterprise Business Intelligence market. However, it has been able to leverage it’s massive install base of SQL Server, Office and Sharepoint to gain traction and to pave the way for Performance Point Server. Microsoft has a more compelling offer for the SMB market, where the other large vendors have had limited success.
Oracle - Like IBM, Oracle has an array of BI and DW products, mostly from acquisitions. Most notable is Hyperion, a brand that Oracle has maintained. Integration among the product sets is generally weak, many products overlap and there is no coherent technology roadmap.
SAP - With the acquisition of Business Objects, SAP displaced its Netweaver brand and became a major BI vendor overnight. Business Objects has been allowed to operate independently so far, but tighter integration with SAP products is on its way.

Here are two others that are not considered leading BI vendors, but they are close:

Microstrategy - While significantly smaller than the other companies listed here, Microstrategy is now the largest independent, pure-play BI software vendor.
SAS - SAS is best known for analytic applications, but they do have a business intelligence solution. It is also known as one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

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