Business intelligence software market remains stable

The software market for business intelligence (BI) in Germany reached a total volume of 754 million euros in 2008. According to a study by the Business Application Research Center (BARC), this corresponds to a growth of 6.2 percent compared to the previous year. This means a decline compared to the growth rates of the past few years, but the market presents itself as healthy.

According to this, the four market-leading providers SAP, Oracle, SAS and IBM together, as in 2007, generated around 49 percent of the total sales of all 136 BI providers surveyed in Germany. “The software market for business intelligence continues to be a pillar of the entire business software market. In recessionary phases in particular, the need for transparency about company activities and flexible and efficient handling of planning processes is necessary, ”says Dr. Carsten Bange, managing director of BARC. The stable growth of the overall market supports this trend. The macroeconomic situation is causing some more trouble than others.

In total, companies in Germany spent more than 750 million euros on software for corporate management in the past financial year. However, “QlikTech”, “Evidanza” and “Jedox”, all of which are considered to be the providers with the highest growth in sales, are not top 5 providers. This shows that it is not the size of the provider that determines market success, but rather its orientation. For example, “QlikTech” is a dashboard and analysis provider based on “in-memory technology” that offers a flexible solution that is geared towards specialist users, while “Jedox”, as an open source BI provider, relies primarily on existing Excel Concentrate user. Topics such as “in-memory”, “flexibility”, “user orientation”, “planning and open source” are addressed by the fastest growing providers, including those that are currently moving the market.

www.barc.de