ZF English

Microsoft: BI is 80% consultancy and 20% software

19.12.2007, 18:19 7

Microsoft Romania last year sold over 2,000 SQL (Structured Query Language) databases and expects the figure to advance by around 100%, after in the passed four years sales of databases have surged by 50%, specified the company's officials. Firms use SQL databases for data centralisation and processing. Oracle and IBM databases compete with SQL.
According to Gabriel Nicolaescu, manager of the Server & Tools unit of Microsoft Romania, only 10% of large companies of Romania have implemented Business Intelligence solutions.
"Business Intelligence is a highly used concept in business and one of the main tools of modern management. There are modern management trends, such as Balanced Core Card, Management Objectives, Key Performance Indicators, Empowerment, Organisation Decentralisation, increasingly acting as organisation efficiency drivers, but to put them into practice one needs some strong IT tools backing them. Practically, these are business approaches made possible by IT development," specified Nicolaescu.
Business Intelligence represents a set of concepts and methods meant to improve business decision-making, using IT systems as support. Nicolaescu considers that just 20% of the BI solution is software, with the rest being consultancy.
According to Garner research company, half of BI solutions worldwide will be performance management solutions. The global BI software solutions market is expected to reach some 4.5 billion dollars this year, being set to top 7 billion dollars in 3 years. In Romania, in terms of BI solutions, Microsoft focuses on medium and large companies.
"Technology is the same, whilst consultants are specialised along industries: there are consultants for logistics and consultants for leasing," specifies Nicolaescu.
Each time Microsoft sells a SQL database, this comes with these BI technologies. Thus, a certified Microsoft consultant needs to be appointed to assist and carry out the project. "We are trying to make BI solutions available to all enterprises, which so far have been used by large companies. At the level of large domestic companies, the market has not developed very well. Truth be told, there were no advantageous technologies, either," specified Nicolaescu.

Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels

AFACERI DE LA ZERO