SAP has launched its Business Intelligence (BI) platform as a Software as a Service (SaaS) capability targeted at casual BI users which it says are currently underserved by products on the market. In an extraordinary claim, SAP says it will allow them to be up and running with “no prior experience or training”.
The solution SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand will, says the company, deliver a complete BI toolset in one flexible offering. Business users will be able to access and visually navigate data from any source using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software. Even casual users can then combine that data in just a few clicks, and follow a guided path that walks them through reporting and analysis, boasts SAP.
The solution will have scalable pricing models based on business need, Three editions are planned that range from a comprehensive version with limited storage to one with more advanced capabilities and the ability to handle larger data volumes. In common with industry practice, customers will be able to try and use the product before they buy and easily scale their deployment as necessary.
With this release, SAP says customers will be able to go to one vendor for all their on-premise and on-demand BI needs, rather than having to assemble a patchwork approach to their BI deployments.
“Current market trends show strong demand for SaaS BI tools that are easy to use and acquire, and IDC research expects the SaaS BI market to grow three times faster than the overall BI and analytics market over the next five years,” said Dan Vesset, program vice president, Business Analytics, IDC. “As organizations look for intuitive, cloud-based solutions that can empower their end-users, applications that supplement traditional BI functionality of query, reporting and analysis with support for workflow, search and collaboration will become increasingly attractive to them – especially applications that offer rapid, alternative deployment options.”
SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand will be available as industry-specific and line of business-specific solutions through Oco, Inc., an SAP BusinessObjects OEM partner with a focus on large enterprise and upper-midmarket business segments. SAP is currently planning to make SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand available through its SAP PartnerEdge program in the channel partner ecosystem later in 2010.
