Microsoft's strong growth in the business intelligence (BI) market has been further boosted with the release this week of its Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, which provides a single point from which companies can monitor, analyse and plan activities needed to improve business performance.
This newest member of the Office system has been developed to enable people at all levels of an organisation to make better decisions. It helps businesses to improve their performance by giving all employees the ability to measure, manage and align their activities to company strategy using the familiar and easy-to-use Microsoft Office environment they already know and use every day.
The launch comes on the back of a report by technology researcher IDC, "Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2006 Vendor Shares," which found that Microsoft had a growth rate of 28% in the BI market, the highest among the top 10 industry vendors.
In its analysis, IDC states that the BI market grew by more than 11% in 2006. The BI tools market continues to be driven by the need for improved performance management and, to a lesser extent, compliance.
Cyril Belikoff, business group executive: Information Worker at Microsoft SA, says the new software puts intelligence right where people work and collaborate.
"Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 helps people spend less time looking for data and more time acting on it. Our goal is to reach every decision maker and add value to every decision," said Belikoff. "Office PerformancePoint 2007 completes our BI offering. Now customers who want to consolidate their BI investments know they can bet on Microsoft for all their BI needs.
Belikoff says the release is a compelling addition to the partner channel's solutions portfolio. "While Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 has been developed to meet our customers' needs in the area of financial and operational performance management, our network of partners can further help customers implement solutions to support sales and human resources performance management needs of the business," says Belikoff.
"We see a big opportunity for partners with Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. Market research firm IDC projects the analytic and performance management market to be growing at over 8% per year."
"There is no doubt that timely and easy access to business data from multiple systems, delivered through a familiar interface, is a vital part of informed decision-making," said Glen Ansell, managing director of i5, a Johannesburg-based systems integrator and business intelligence specialist. "Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 allows business users to get quick answers to key business questions, allowing them to stay competitive."
For more information contact Microsoft Dynamics, +27 (0)11 361 7000, [email protected], www.microsoft.com/SouthAfrica
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