Current and future trends in business intelligence (BI) and its various implementations in industry sectors will be examined, in two weeks, at the ITWeb BI Conference. It takes place on 25 and 26 February, in Bryanston, Johannesburg.
On day one of the conference, a panel discussion session hosted by director of The Intersect Group, Bill Hoggarth, will see experts in the BI field present on the implications of the recent consolidation in the BI vendor market.
“The vendor consolidation marks a significant maturation step for the BI industry, and the involvement of the 'mega-vendors' will accelerate the uptake of BI on a true enterprise level,” says Hoggarth. “This has to be good news for the economy, and for decision-makers throughout business and government, as perhaps the unfulfilled promises of the BI vendor community will finally be delivered. The involvement of the mega-vendors will also accelerate the ease with which BI can be embedded in real-time processes.
“The vendor consolidation must also happen in the local BI services market,” he adds.
ITWeb's BI Conference
For more information about the ITWeb BI Conference taking place 25 - 26 February at The Forum, in Bryanston, click here.
The panel, consisting of Simon Carpenter, director of strategic initiatives at SAP South Africa; Martin Rennhackkamp, COO of the PBT Group; Alan Brickett, business data architect at Premier Foods; and Cavin Griffiths, executive for BI, DQM, BPM at Telkom SA, will deliberate on the implications for existing and future BI customers. They will also predict how the BI vendor market will evolve further in the short and longer term.
“The consolidation in the BI market makes the BI buyer's choice between 'one-stop-shop' versus 'best-of-breed' much more important,” says Rennhackkamp. “If you are going with the one-stop-shop, you must be sure the vendor is going to continue paying attention to all the products in his stable.”
According to Griffiths, the consolidation of related industries - vertical or horizontal - is a longstanding practice in the free market, thus the consolidation in the BI vendor market is not unusual. “Companies will have to consider whether they will be happy to be tied into huge vendors from their operating systems to reporting and BI, or whether they want freedom to chose independent solutions. Cost and term will play a big role.”
Says Brickett: “Although there is likely to still be a number of evolutionary effects taking place this year, with Microsoft Roadmap on the BI products, the consolidation of the BI vendors into a number of bigger players owning market share and intellectual property-based products has narrowed the available choices, and at the same time, opened up the field for new smaller competitors to try their hand.“
Jock McKenzie, chairman of Sappi, will give the keynote presentation at the ITWeb BI Conference, on 25 February.
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