A new survey of business intelligence (BI) professionals worldwide reveals that while they overwhelmingly believe that their companies can benefit from the insights BI provides, the perceived high costs of implementing a BI system have prevented more than two-thirds of them from doing so throughout their firms.

A majority of survey respondents also believe that corporate-wide implementation of BI systems supports the opportunity for greater insight and wider access. They said it delivers increased value over department-level BI, even though the latter may cost less and provide a more targeted focus to specific information.

The survey was conducted last month on behalf of Teksouth Corporation (www.teksouth.com), a veteran provider of data management and analysis systems, and LogiXML (www.logixml.com), the leader in interactive, Web-based business intelligence. More than 250 responses were received from around the world, from companies ranging from Global 100 to mid-sized enterprises.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 89 percent favor a “BI on-demand” approach, where workers can ask the questions they want instead of relying on pre-formed queries;
• 58 percent feel that any knowledge worker should have access to business intelligence tools;
• 43 percent perceive the cost of implementing corporate-wide BI as “prohibitive;” and
• 30 percent want a BI solution, but are waiting for costs to drop before implementing one.

“These findings confirm what we hear in the field quite often,” said Steve Wilsher, Teksouth’s Chief Executive Officer. “Based on past experience, potential customers perceive that BI systems are hugely expensive to install and maintain. Teksouth and LogiXML have devised a new approach, combining advanced BI tools that provide comprehensive functionality, with a fixed-price approach that helps firms minimize and quantify the costs of implementation, as well as accurately projecting the return on their investment.”Companies like Teksouth and LogiXML have implemented solution-based offerings that are designed to integrate and produce superior results at reduced cost, such as Teksouth’s EntelliCacheâ„¢ ad hoc query acceleration software and the LogiXML Logi 8â„¢ BI reporting and analysis platform.

“The survey results reflect a substantial difference in ‘perception versus reality’ in the BI market,” said Arman Eshraghi, LogiXML’s founder and CEO. “What survey respondents clearly want is affordable, corporate-level business intelligence, and they want it available right now. Firms like Teksouth and LogiXML are achieving these results for customers today.”

Other findings from the survey are:

• Fewer than 40 percent have BI deployed. More than 37 percent of respondents said they either have company-wide BI functionality deployed, or will have it deployed within a year. An additional 39 percent said it is on the drawing board, with no firm timetable scheduled;
• 75 percent believe blending strategic and tactical works best. By a margin of almost two to one, respondents believe BI should address both strategic and tactical objectives, even if it means designing and implementing a larger (and more costly) system at their firm; and
• 63 percent say BI is underappreciated. While business intelligence professionals may understand its advantages, they may not be successfully communicating its benefits within their companies. More than 63 percent said some people at their firms do not understand or appreciate its value. In addition, almost 40 percent said they have no budget for BI projects scheduled for 2008.

A complimentary copy of the survey summary is available for download from www.teksouth.com/survey and www.logixml.com/survey.

Logi 8′s open, standards-based architecture makes it easy to implement and easy to use. Organizations can have sophisticated, enterprise-class reporting applications up and running on Logi 8 in hours, as opposed to the weeks or months it can take to deploy legacy BI products. Logi 8 empowers users at all technical levels and across all functional groups in an organization by allowing them to access, analyze and share business information through BI capabilities optimized for specific user groups.

Logi 8 offers organizations a compelling value proposition that combines depth and breadth of product and pure Web-based design with an aggressive pricing and licensing model that supports scaling BI implementations to serve many users in an organization. Companies license Logi 8 on a per server basis, instead of per seat, at an affordable price point, which makes it far more cost-effective than competitive offerings — in some cases, up to 80 percent less expensive. The pure Web-based design of the Logi 8 platform means that it is optimized for interactive reporting and that reports are accessible by the full range of Web-access devices, including innovative products like the new Apple iPhone.

“Historically, Business Intelligence applications have been seen as a rare commodity, restricted for use by senior managers and business analysts,” said Arman Eshraghi, founder and CEO, LogiXML. “What good is a BI solution that only puts information in the hands of a select few? Logi 8 is a platform that makes business critical information accessible by everyone from power users to technology novices. Across the board, it helps users make more informed business decisions.”

The Logi 8 Platform consolidates key capabilities to enhance pure Web-based BI like AJAX support for interactive reporting and .NET 2.0 support for increased performance and scalability. The Logi 8 Platform also makes it easy for organizations to deliver a full range of BI functions built on one consistent architecture at a dramatically lower price point compared to current market share leaders.

The Logi 8 Unified BI Platform includes:

–  Logi 8 Info: A complete managed reporting solution for corporate
report developers featuring powerful dashboards for personalized
information at-a-glance.  Logi 8 Info’s Analysis Grid lets report
developers maintain control over data tables, while putting the power of
casual analysis into the hands of any user.  Logi 8 Info also offers
innovative heat maps that use size and color to let users visualize complex
information easily.

–  Logi 8 Ad Hoc: A self-service Web-based reporting solution for non-
technical business users to get critical business information quickly and
easily.  Logi 8 Ad Hoc also features easy navigation and data source
selection, as well as customizable report formatting.

–  Logi 8 OLAP: A Web-based cube viewer for fast analysis of OLAP cubes
designed for all business users.  Logi 8 OLAP provides advanced, drillable
charting capabilities, as well as sophisticated and flexible security, that
allow users to take advantage of both Microsoft Analysis Services Security
and the Logi 8 security model.

–  Logi 8 Mart: An easy to implement data mart for fast delivery of BI
and reporting information.  Its powerful embedded database isolates data
from operational data sources for efficient reporting and analysis
performance.  It adds a secure data layer between operational data and the
reporting server, taking the load away from the data servers and allowing
organizations to cache part of their data for faster access.  Logi 8 Mart
also supports real-time data to keep reports fresh and relevant.

“Our customers look to us for intuitive dashboards and reports that will help increase the productivity of their sales force,” says Steven Schneider, CEO of OnDemandIQ, a fast growing sales management software firm. “With the new Logi 8 release, we can quickly and easily create custom reports and applications that give our customers access to vital company information.”