Microsoft's recent move to incorporate key functionality of PerformancePoint Server into its SharePoint platform should come as no surprise. While perceptions may vary, the reality, according to Ryan Jamieson, director at IS Partners, is that the platform approach to business intelligence offers a cost-effective implementation and a richer feature set to allow you to accomplish more than only BI.
Having BI functionality integrated into the platform already allows organisations to save costs by using what they have in place, says Jamieson. "With SharePoint, for example, companies already have all the front-end BI tools at their disposal, with the ability to extend this into broader functionality."
He says the platform can be used for growth into other areas, including collaboration, search and business process management, for example. A further advantage is the ability to tie BI directly into these components.
Point solutions, on the other hand, present a clear risk, according to Jamieson. "Best-of-breed applications are constantly in danger of becoming marginalised or potential candidates for acquisition by bigger market players. The acquisition of Hyperion by Oracle and Cognos by IBM offers some taste of the market consolidation yet to come," Jamieson says.
From the customer's perspective, implementing point solutions can be cause for confusion when the application set is incorporated into an unfamiliar platform, and the focus moves away from the tool-set itself. "In Microsoft's case, the consolidation of PerformancePoint has been a logical step, and one which ensures that access to BI is made easier and more cost-effective than before," says Markus Hain, Application Platform Sales Manager at Microsoft South Africa.
The platform approach, he adds, offers rich BI functionality, while also giving organisations the ability to engage more users in BI. "This methodology circumvents the need and cost for individual user licences, and is also in line with Microsoft's vision of 'BI for the masses', ensuring the value of BI can be more easily deployed to a far wider audience," Hain says.
The cost of development and licences meant organisations had to limit the reach of tools and functionality. Typically, point solutions, in the form of dashboard, analytics and reporting, have a server and user licence cost. A single-investment in the platform, however, provides the BI tools along with additional features through which to further enable the business.
"Traditionally, organisations would have to consider how many users as well as which users would have access to the BI system, but this reality is changing. Now, anyone can have access," Jamieson says. "Companies typically have to spend money on development, user licences and the database. At orders of magnitude less per seat, BI can have a far broader reach throughout the organisation, and ensure everyone has the ability to make decisions on timely and accurate information within their user rights."
He adds that a further benefit to platform-based BI is familiarity. "Point solutions can be disruptive in terms of user comfort and the complexities involved in integrating the solution into the enterprise architecture. This makes for a more compelling and overall cost-effective implementation."
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