Predictive analytics remains the black box of performance management but maybe that is changing. With IBM's acquistion of SPSS adding to its Business Analytics and Cognos predictive analytics is poised to take off.<< MORE >>

Why am I pushing a quick marriage on NetSuite and Adaptive Planning? There is no need for a long engagement for these two SaaS vendors.<< MORE >>

This is a question that many clients ask. "Should SaaS be part of my Business Intelligence (BI)and PM strategy?" When I answer yes, the obvious next question is "how?" << MORE >>

The Deal
IBM has announced their intent to acquire SPSS for about $1.2B or $50 a share.  Seems like a nice premium for SPSS stockholder's at around a 42% over the previous close.  But I will leave the financial analysis of the deal to the investment community.

The Impact
I like the deal for the overall business intelligence and performance management market.  Predictive analytics has been talked about by analysts of the BI and PM market for years without much traction outside of the statistical analysis vendors (SPSS and SAS).  IBM is the first vendor to really put some significant skin in the game by making a major ...<< MORE >>

Rather than develop a full blown internal ROI analysis, many companies would prefer to point to the return a similar company, in a similar industry, with similar challenges, achieved as a proof point of the value BI and PM can bring.<< MORE >>

Last week IBM announced their 2nd Quarter earnings. The numbers were almost universally regarded as positive even though their revenue declined 13% and did not meet analyst expectations. Why was this perceived so positively? Because earnings were up 12% and they beat EPS estimates despite declining revenue and Business Analytics revenue was strong.<< MORE >>

Back on June 19th LucidEra closed its doors and went belly up. Is this the beginning of the end for SaaS BI? Not in my opinion.<< MORE >>

In a perfect world all of our activities would be linked directly to corporate goals and we would be constantly monitoring our impact on performance. If that is the environment in your company, congratulations you are one of the few. In the real-world many of us don't know how we impact performance and what we can do to improve performance. So, what should you do?<< MORE >>

I religiously read former colleague Bruce Richardson's First Thing Monday and his blog.  A recent entry about software innovation generated a lot of comments from both the vendor and user communities.  It reminds me of a commentary I wrote last June about the survival of the independent vendors after the mass consolidation in the BI and PM markets.  I wrote that one of the main reasons I believe independent vendors will continue to survive is their ability to innovate faster than the mega-vendors.  I continue to believe that is true, most innovation comes from smaller more nimble vendors who can provide deeper, targeted solutions while mega-vendors focus on the needs of the masses.

Many of the acquisitions by the big gorillas in this market were done because of the innovation of the companies they acquired.  The key to continued innovation is to let that small company innovative culture thrive in the larger environment.  Becoming part of "the machine" can suck the creative juices from the acquired company and soon the best resources move on in search of an innovative culture. 

Can the Big Gorillas Innovate?...I believe they can.



The acquiring company should nurture the creative environment they acquired rather than push to assimilate.  Yes, the back office and other areas need to be assimilated to take advantage of cost savings.  Yes, marketing strategies need to be redesigned to take advantage of the combined entity .  Yes, R&D leadership needs to ensure that there is symmetry across the entire development team and integration across products.  However, individual contributors and teams should be shielded from this as much as possible and left to continue to innovate.  A  mega-vendor with vast resources and a huge client base provides advantages that can not be found in smaller companies, if the culture is retained the company gets the best of both worlds (my 6 year old daughter would appreciate the Hannah Montana reference).

An Example
Bruce Richardson blogged about Oracle's 100 Days of Innovation campaign as an example of a mega-vendor focusing on innovation not just integration.  Another example comes from SAP BusinessObjects.  Prior to their acquisition by SAP, BusinesObjects had released a BI search product called Polestar.  Since the acquisition they have continued to innovate this product and as part of SAP have combined that innovation with technology from SAP's BW Accelerator to create SAP Business Objects Explorer for fast, self-service investigation against very large BW data stores.  In my opinion SAP would not have been able to provide this solution to their BW customers without continued innovation from the BusinessObjects team.

So yes, the gorillas can innovate but they need to work hard to keep from suffocating innovation with their bulk, bureaucracy, and politicking.  They must nurture the creative culture and resources of acquired companies and let the mothership focus on integration, efficiencies and leveraging their vast resources to support and fund innovation.

What do you think?  Can the gorilla's innovate?  Are they innovating?  Can they innovate as quickly as smaller vendors?  Is your acquired vendor innovating as effectively as they did when they were independent?

One of the biggest challenges I hear these days when it comes to Business Intelligence (BI) and Performance Management initiatives is finding a sponsor. It's not just that funding is limited, it's also that sponsors are reluctant to step up and put their neck on the line in this economy. Sponsoring a failed initiative right now can be career threatening.<< MORE >>