Business intelligence (BI) vendor Business Objects on Wednesday reported disappointing first-quarter 2003 results that reflected its end-of-life product. This came a day before it launched a revamped and updated product line under the banner of Business Objects Enterprise 6.0.
Global revenue growth - substantially bolstered by exchange rate fluctuations - was only 10% year on year. Licence revenue declined and support revenue increased, indicating that a new release was at least anticipated, and probably much-needed.
The Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and India region showed 56% growth, and SA outshone all areas with 168% revenue growth in dollar terms.
While the global BI market has shown a great deal of resilience in the face of the IT market slowdown, this growth number belies the fact that SA actually has a higher installed base of BI than elsewhere, according to Michael Peevey, director responsible for the country.
"SA is an innovative early adopter," he notes, but added that significant deals with the State IT Agency, De Beers, Unilever, Cell C and Roche resulted in an exceptional quarter for the vendor in SA.
However, Business Objects seems to have had a fairly low base. "Research showed us that in SA we weren`t controlling our market perception nor covering the market well, especially compared with our key competitors like Cognos, which is why we established a [three-person] local presence," Peevey says.
Though he notes that business is still "a bit spiky", he says Business Objects hopes to double its revenues in SA in the next year, and is "happy to reinvest" the returns it earns in the country.
Share
