More B.I. Opportunities for VARs
VARs that serve midsize businesses could benefit greatly as more business intelligence vendors push downstream.
Business Objects is the latest BI vendor to announce a small and midsize customer push that depends heavily on solutions providers. The company’s SMB initiative targets customers with less than $1 billion in annual revenues or fewer than 2,500 employees.
Business Objects’ mid-market push doesn’t surprise The VAR Guy. Many BI vendors are making similar moves. SAS Institute launched its first partner program last August. And even open source BI vendors such as JasperSoft are gaining momentum in the SMB sector.
Meanwhile, numerous VARs are investigating emerging BI solutions from Microsoft and Oracle. Microsoft’s own Business Intelligence conference, scheduled for May 9-11 in Seattle, includes a partner training track.
The VAR Guy continues to wonder: When will Cognos, one of the BI market leaders, get serious about recruiting more channel partners? The company already has a reseller program. But Cognos has avoided high-profile channel announcements in recent months. Will pressure from Business Objects and SAS change that?