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Microsoft BI on the (top-)right track

At the end of last week, Microsoft received a very favorable ranking on Gartner’s 2010 Business Intelligence Platforms Magic Quadrant, with a coveted “top-right” placement that shows completeness of vision, coupled with the ability to execute – two critical attributes that only generate value when delivered together.

In putting together the influential report, Gartner spoke to more than 50 Microsoft BI customers, and received more customer survey responses than any other participating vendor – which in itself is positive feedback.

In the vendor abstract Gartner credits Microsoft for its overall approach, highlighting ease-of-use and TCO advantage, the ability to deliver pervasive BI and OLAP capabilities, and noted that Microsoft’s development tools are rated among the best in the market by the customers who were surveyed.

Microsoft’s BI strategy is based on the vision of “Pervasive Insight”, delivering capabilities as a unified part of our Information Platform (SQL Server), Business Collaboration Platform (SharePoint), and our Business Productivity Suite (Microsoft Office) to help drive better decision-making across customer organizations, and through the familiar interfaces that people use every day.

For Microsoft Dynamics ERP users this means easy, RoleTailored access to the integrated data and analysis tools that best meet individual needs and experience. Whether a user is looking for easy access to analyze and share information with Microsoft Office Excel, or more sophisticated functionality through Microsoft SQL Server technologies such as SQL Server Analysis Services and SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft’s integrated, end-to-end BI solution will help boost productivity and insight from the production floor to the board room.

And there is more to come. Last week also saw the official announcement that SQL Server 2008 R2 will be on pricelists from May 2010. This next rev of SQL Server, and the related PowerPivot for Excel 2010 and SharePoint 2010 ad-ins, continue to showcase Microsoft’s commitment to business intelligence and mission-critical workloads.

Hmmm…completeness of vision, and the ability to execute….that sounds familiar…

Read more about Microsoft’s BI strategy here and the Microsoft Dynamics BI advantage here.

Ross Thorpe

Microsoft Dynamics Product Marketing