SPSS Reveals Key Facts

May 23, 2008

Analytics and business intelligent giant SPSS revealed today some key facts about its business. You will want to read the Computerwire story that contains the text of an interview with SPSS’s Alex Kormushoff, a senior VP with the Chicago-based firm.

He disclosed:

SPSS has 250,000 customers
SPSS serves 95 percent of the Fortune 1000, the top 10 global brands, 21 of the top 25 retailers, and 24 of the top 25 research firms
Customers span industry, education, and government

The most interesting assertion he made, if I read the computerwire story correctly is:

According to Nucleus Research, which tracks the company, 94% of customers achieve a positive ROI in 10 months.”

Pretty impressive. I have just two questions. If SPSS has such a dominant position in the market, why is SAS continuing to grow at a healthy clip? Firms offering alternatives such as Clarabridge and Megaputer tell me that their analytics businesses are booming.

My thought is that SPSS is painting a picture that has a touch too much of the bold acrylic lime green and signal red colorings.

Analytics is changing and changing quickly. Google looms as a disruptor on the first order. Megaputer’s tie up with Moscow’s best and brightest mathematicians is not to be ignored. And, SAS’s acquisition of Teragram puts that company in a position to challenge the SPSS unstructured information functions with a newer chunk of technology.

My hunch is that traditional analytics companies are in the same kettle of fish as traditional CMS and enterprise search vendors. The markets are shifting quickly, and these presumptive segment leaders are teetering on the brink of great financial and competitive pressure.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know. My bet is on outfits like Google and Megaputer. Just because you don’t know these organizations are up to their eyeballs in state of the art analytics services doesn’t mean the destabilization of the traditional vendors is not underway.

Stephen Arnold, May 23, 2008

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Database, Enterprise, Google, News, Uncategorized

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.