This issue of MicroStrategy UK Direct covers the new MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Symposium in London, results from Nigel Pedse's BI Survey 7 and Gartner's BI Magic Quadrant - plus the latest news, events and seminars from MicroStrategy.

Special feature

 

Increase Your Business Intelligence IQ

Join us at the new MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Symposium in London on Thursday, 5 June 2008 (add date to your Outlook Calendar).

Don't miss this exciting one-day opportunity to increase your business intelligence (BI) success by learning the latest BI techniques in delivering reports to the mobile workforce, the latest tips on dashboards, as well as ensuring the integrity of your data and reporting.

To share ideas, and hear what successful companies have learned from their BI deployments – register by 12 May and receive the special early-bird rate of £99!


Top Stories

What Factors Determine BI Implementation Success? Results from the World's Largest Independent Survey of BI Users

The BI Survey 7 compiled the real-world BI experiences of nearly 2,000 respondents across 60 countries and is the most comprehensive independent survey of the BI market space and products. The BI Survey is conducted annually by industry analyst Nigel Pendse, author of The OLAP Report. Here are some of the findings:

  • Not what you expected
    The reasons cited by many companies for choosing a BI vendor are rarely correlated with successful outcomes.
  • It pays to shop around
    Companies which conduct a formal multi-vendor evaluation when selecting a BI product are most likely to realize business benefits.
  • Think twice about your database/ERP vendor
    Selecting a BI product from an existing database vendor or ERP supplier often leads to suboptimal outcomes.
  • Bigger is not better
    Larger BI Vendors continue to see a decline in customer loyalty and satisfaction.
  • Who should lead the way?
    BI implementation is most successful when led by business end-users and outside consulting firms, rather than vendor representatives or internal IT staff.
  • Not all BI products are equal
    Some vendor's products rate consistently higher than others according to the Business Benefits Index, an objective measure of performance used by The BI Survey.
  • What your vendor doesn't know can hurt you
    Vendors are often impervious to major product related problems faced by their customers, and are therefore unlikely to correct them - leading to consistently poor performance and low product usage.

Key finding: For the fourth consecutive year in a row, one vendor had the highest loyalty rate among its customers. This same vendor had the highest project success and business benefit rating in its peer group. Find out which vendor:
Download Summary Results from The BI Survey 7

Straight from the Source - The BI Survey 7 Webcast
Listen to BI Survey 7 author Nigel Pendse as he discusses the key findings of this eye-opening report in an exclusive one-hour Webcast:.
Register for The BI Survey 7 Webcast

Resources:
Press Release: March 27, 2008
Press Release: April 3, 2008
In the News: 'The BI Survey 7' Details Purchase Practices, Ranks Loyalty by Brand

Webcast, May 8: Selecting BI Technology for Enterprise Success

MicroStrategy Positioned in ‘Leaders’ Quadrant in 2008 ‘Magic Quadrant For Business Intelligence Platforms’

MicroStrategy has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the leaders quadrant in the 2008 Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms report. Gartner describes leaders as "vendors that are reasonably strong in the breadth and depth of their BI platform capabilities, and can deliver on enterprise wide implementations that support a broad BI strategy. Leaders articulate a business proposition that resonates with buyers, supported by the viability and operational capability to deliver on a global basis."

Resources:
Read the full report