Blends: The Starbuckization of Microsoft Business Intelligence
November 28, 2009
I avoid Starbuck’s. I speak English, not Starbuckian. When I say “small”, I want the smallest container, not a restatement by an unemployable 20 something in ersatz Klingon. Microsoft is following in Starbuck’s marketing footsteps, or that’s what I concluded after reading “Microsoft Focuses BI Strategy on SQL Server, SharePoint, Excel”. the idea is
The ProClarity technology Microsoft acquired in 2006 as a BI interface for SQL Server, SharePoint and Office has been dropped in favor of the interfaces users know: Excel and SharePoint. The scorecard and dashboard capabilities in PerformancePoint Server will be embedded in the next version of SharePoint. PerformancePoint Server’s financial planning and budgeting capabilities, however, have been cut from the BI product line.
And further down in the article, this passage appears:
With PowerPivot for Excel, users will be able to conduct complex queries by downloading up to 100 million rows of data to their desktop from many data sources, such as IBM, Oracle, Teradata and SQL Server databases, or data feeds from the Web. The information can then be sliced and diced into reports or users can create BI applications on their desktops and share the applications with colleagues by publishing them on SharePoint.
And finally, this comment:
But midmarket companies can get started now with some BI capabilities and no investments, Helm [Microsoft expert / consultant] said. SharePoint 2007 has scorecard and dashboard functionality. Excel has had data analysis services in place since early 2000, and users do have some capabilities to push Excel data out to SharePoint today.
Am I alone in wondering how these names, variants, and combinations are going to improve business intelligence. The language points to three things in my opinion:
- Microsoft is trying to put a little bit of whipped cream in every cup of software
- The features and functions of these products are in flux just as Starbuck’s changes its featured coffee of the day
- The net result is a bunch of ingredients that get blended together with mixed results just like a Starbuck’s super latte triple shot with a dash of nutmeg.
My hunch is that embedded search and information access systems will become the “new” business intelligence hot product in 2010. Who am I watching in this space? MarkLogic looks good. So do Coveo and Exalead. The IBM approach is more like McDonald’s approach to upscale offerings. SAS is struggling in market where math is about as popular as cod liver oil. I’m uncertain about Attivio. I haven’t heard much about their products in the last six months. Lots of excitement in 2010, opines this addled goose.
Stephen Arnold, November 27, 2009
I wish to report to the Department of Commerce that I was not paid in cash or coffee beans to write about what happens when a bunch of names are applied to what is becoming a commodity. I will have to study those bloggers who get paid to write advertorials. That’s a New Year’s resolution for sure, and I don’t need a business intelligence mélange to move forward but I will take a dash of nutmeg.
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