No Run on BI Vendors, Info Builder’s CEO Says
April 10, 2007 Alex Woodie
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With Oracle‘s planned acquisition of Hyperion, the stage is set for a run on business intelligence software vendors. Or is it? One industry insider, Information Builders‘ CEO Gerald Cohen, says he isn’t buying what the IT analysts are selling. In an interview last month, Cohen cast doubt on analysts’ predictions that the big business intelligence software vendors, such as Business Objects, Cognos, and Information Builders, are going to be gobbled up by larger software vendors any time soon. “In my personal opinion, no. I don’t think these guys jump,” Cohen said. “I think the analysts are all sheep.” While some consolidation is inevitable, the outspoken CEO doesn’t see a big run on business intelligence vendors. “My gut says that won’t happen so fast,” he said. “Hyperion is not really a business intelligence vendor. They’re principally a financial products vendor” that develops software used for budgeting and consolidating financial reports, he said. At the same time, if, for some reason, the market for business intelligence vendors did get really hot, and one of the IT giants–say, IBM–entered into a bidding war for a business intelligence software company–say Information Builders–Cohen would encourage the IT giant to take action. “If I was IBM I would certainly try to buy Information Builders before my competitors,” he said. RELATED STORY IBM to Distribute Info Builders’ iSeries BI Tools
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