wisdom of-crowds-embedded-bi-market-study-2013

August 7, 2013

Dresner Advisory Services, LLC

2013 Edition

Wisdom of Crowds ®

Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study

Licensed to Actuate

2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study

http://www.dresneradvisory.com Copyright 2013 – Dresner Advisory Services, LLC

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Disclaimer:

This report should be used for informational purposes only. Vendor and product selections should be made based on

multiple information sources, face-to-face meetings, customer reference checking, product demonstrations and

proof-of-concept applications.

The information contained in all Wisdom of Crowds ® Market Study Reports reflects the opinions expressed in the

online responses of individuals who chose to respond to our online questionnaire, and does not represent a scientific

sampling of any kind. Dresner Advisory Services, LLC shall not be liable for the content of Reports, study results, or for

any damages incurred or alleged to be incurred by any of the companies included in the Reports as a result of its

content.

Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden.

http://www.dresneradvisory.com/



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Definitions

Business Intelligence Defined Business intelligence (BI) is “knowledge gained through the access and analysis of business information.

Business Intelligence tools and technologies include query and reporting, OLAP (on-line analytical processing), Data

Mining and advanced analytics, end-user tools for ad hoc query and analysis” and “dashboards for performance

monitoring”.

Howard Dresner, The Performance Management Revolution: Business Results Through Insight and Action (John Wiley

& Sons, 2007)

Embedded Business Intelligence Defined Embedded Business Intelligence is the technological capability to include BI features and functions as an inherent part

of another application.




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Introduction This year we celebrate the sixth anniversary of Dresner Advisory Services! Our thanks to all of you that

have been with us along the way – encouraging and challenging us!

Since our founding in 2007, we have strived to offer a fresh, real-world and alternative perspective on

the Business Intelligence (BI) market. We hope that you agree that we have not only succeeded in doing

so, but have continued to “raise the bar” - offering increasingly compelling research and greater value

with each successive year.

We published our first Wisdom of Crowds® Business Intelligence Market Study in 2010. At that time our

primary goal was to reach out to Business Intelligence users focusing on evaluating BI vendors and

products. Our first research report was 68 pages in length, with 47 charts, and ranking 15 vendors. We

have continued to publish the Wisdom of Crowds BI Market Study each year since - expanding its scope

and staying true to our goal of providing fresh perspective. This year's Buyers’ Guide Edition was 124

pages with over 95 charts and tables.

In 2010 we published our first thematic research study - Mobile Business Intelligence. Since then, we

have published three more - expanding to include the broader Mobile Computing topic.

Last year we received the registered trademark designation for "Wisdom of Crowds®". Moving forward,

all research will be published under this brand. We also added two new thematic research reports to the

family: Cloud BI and Collaborative BI.

This year we introduce the inaugural Embedded Business Intelligence report – focusing upon the

requirement to make BI capabilities pervasive by including them as a part of other applications. Like our

other thematic research reports, Embedded BI explores user perceptions and intentions and includes

vendor rankings and a buyers’ guide, making it a valuable tool for anyone considering investing in

embedded BI products and services.

In closing, we’re very excited about both the market and our ability to continue to add substantial

perspective and value to it!

Thanks for your support!

Best,

Howard Dresner Chief Research Officer Dresner Advisory Services




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Contents Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Business Intelligence Defined ................................................................................................................... 3

Embedded Business Intelligence Defined ................................................................................................. 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4

Benefits of the Study ..................................................................................................................................... 8

A Consumer Guide .................................................................................................................................... 8

A Supplier Tool .......................................................................................................................................... 8

External Awareness ............................................................................................................................... 8

Internal Planning ................................................................................................................................... 8

About Howard Dresner and Dresner Advisory Services ............................................................................... 9

Survey Method and Data Collection ........................................................................................................... 10

Data Collection ........................................................................................................................................ 10

Figure 1 - Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013 ....................................................................................... 10

Data Quality ............................................................................................................................................ 10

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 12

Study Demographics ................................................................................................................................... 12

Geography ............................................................................................................................................... 13

Figure 2 - Geographic Distribution ...................................................................................................... 13

Functions ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Figure 3 - Functions Represented ....................................................................................................... 14

Vertical Industries ................................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 4 - Vertical Industries ............................................................................................................... 15

Organization Size .................................................................................................................................... 16

Figure 5 – Organization Size ................................................................................................................ 16

Analysis & Trends: Business Intelligence Users .......................................................................................... 18

Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ..................................................................................... 18

Figure 6 - Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence ............................................. 18

Figure 7 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................................. 19

Figure 8 - Importance of Embedded BI by Geography........................................................................ 20

Figure 9 - Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry ................................................ 21




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Figure 10 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Function ........................................... 22

Figure 11 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Organization Size ............................ 23

Figure 12 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Targeted Users of BI ........................ 24

Figure 13 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Driving Function .............................. 25

Figure 14 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by BI Objectives ................................... 26

Figure 15 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Penetration of BI Users ................... 27

Figure 16 Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use ....................................................... 28

Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture ....................................................................................... 29

Figure 17 - Prioritized Architecture for Embedded BI ......................................................................... 29

Figure 18 - Embedded Architecture by Organization Size .................................................................. 30

Figure 19 - Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry .............................................................. 31

Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Requirements ....................................................................... 32

Figure 20 – Embedded Business Intelligence Capability Priorities ..................................................... 32

Figure 21 - Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry...................................................................... 33

Figure 22 – Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size ...................................................... 34

Targeted Applications for Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................................... 35

Figure 23 – Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence ........................................... 35

Figure 24 - Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function ........................................................... 36

Figure 25 - Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size ......................................... 37

Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence .................................................................. 38

Figure 26 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence .......................... 38

Figure 27 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography ................................. 39

Figure 28 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function ....................................................... 40

Figure 29 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry ............................................. 41

Figure 30 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size ......................................... 42

Industry and Vendor Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 44

Figure 31 - Industry Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................ 44

Figure 32 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture 2013 - 2015 ............ 45

Table 1 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture . 46

Figure 33 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Features 2013 - 2015 .................. 47

Table 2 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Features ....... 48




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Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings ................................................................................... 49

Figure 34 - Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings ............................................................. 50

Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide ......................................................................................... 51

Table 3 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Architecture ............................................ 51

Table 4 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Capabilities .............................................. 52

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................... 53

Appendix: Embedded Business Intelligence Study Survey Instrument ...................................................... 55




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Benefits of the Study The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study provides a

wealth of information and analysis – offering value to both consumers and producers of

Business Intelligence technology and services.

A Consumer Guide

As an objective source of industry research, consumers use the Wisdom of Crowds ®

Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study to understand how their peers are

leveraging and investing in Business Intelligence and related technologies.

Using our unique vendor performance measurement system, users glean key insights

into Cloud BI software supplier performance, enabling:

Comparisons of current vendor performance to industry norms

Identification and selection of new vendors

A Supplier Tool

Vendor Licensees use the Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence

Market Study in several important ways:

External Awareness

Build awareness for the Business Intelligence market and supplier brand,

citing Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study

trends and vendor performance

Create lead and demand-generation for supplier offerings through association

with Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study

brand, findings, webinars, etc.

Internal Planning

Refine internal product plans and align with market priorities and realities as

identified in Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market

Study

Better understand customer priorities, concerns and issues

Identify competitive pressures and opportunities




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About Howard Dresner and Dresner Advisory Services The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study was

conceived, designed and executed by Dresner Advisory Services, LLC - an independent

advisory firm - and Howard Dresner, its President, Founder and Chief Research Officer.

Howard Dresner is one of the foremost thought leaders in Business Intelligence and

Performance Management, having coined the term “Business Intelligence” in 1989. He

has published two books on the subject, The Performance

Management Revolution – Business Results through Insight

and Action (John Wiley & Sons – Nov. 2007) and Profiles in

Performance – Business Intelligence Journeys and the

Roadmap for Change (John Wiley & Sons – Nov. 2009). He

lectures at forums around the globe and is regularly cited by the

business and trade press.

Prior to Dresner Advisory Services, Howard served as Chief

Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions and was a Research Fellow at Gartner, where he

led its Business Intelligence research practice for 13 years.

Howard has conducted and directed numerous in-depth primary research studies over

the course of the past two decades and is an expert in analyzing these markets.

Through the Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence market research reports,

Howard engages with a global community to redefine how research is created and

shared. Landmark research reports include:

- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market Study

- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Collaborative Business Intelligence Market Study

- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Cloud Business Intelligence Market Study

- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study

- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Mobile Computing/ Mobile Business Intelligence Market

Study.

Howard (www.twitter.com/howarddresner) conducts a weekly Twitter “tweetchat” on

Fridays at 1PM ET. The hashtag is #BIWisdom. During these live events the BIWisdom

“tribe” discusses a wide range of Business Intelligence topics.

More information about Dresner Advisory Services can be found at

www.dresneradvisory.com.


http://www.twitter.com/howarddresner




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Survey Method and Data Collection As with all of our Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market Studies, we

constructed a survey instrument to collect data and used social media and crowd-

sourcing techniques to recruit participants.

We expanded data collection to include our own research community of roughly 2,000

organizations as well as vendors’ customer communities.

Data Collection

The volume of data collected continues to expand each year. For 2013, we collected

1,182 completed surveys – exceeding our goal of 1,100 with 40% growth over 2012

(Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013

Data Quality

All respondent entries were carefully scrutinized and verified to ensure that only

qualified participants are included in the study.

0

200

400

600

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1000

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2010 2011 2012 2013

Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013

Target

Actual




11

Executive

Summary




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Executive Summary Embedded Business Intelligence has resonated well with our community of

respondents with a majority indicating it’s either “critical”, “very important” or

“important”.

“Back office” functions (e.g., Supply chain, IT, Operations) rate the importance of

Embedded BI higher than their “front office” counterparts.

Those seeking to automate external constituents (customers, suppliers) were much

more favorably inclined towards Embedded BI.

Although focused upon “back office” functions, organizations’ intent is to use

Embedded BI to increase competitive advantage, enhance customer service and

grow revenues as opposed to only improving “operational efficiency”.

Recent adopters of Business Intelligence tools and technologies were more likely to

give Embedded BI a higher priority than those that are well established.

Technical approaches for inclusion of BI functionality within other applications favors

a more practical, modern and web-centered method (e.g., iframe, RESTful).

Topping the list of application targets for Embedded BI are: Web portals, Financial

management applications (e.g., treasury, procurement, compliance) and ERP (e.g.,

order processing, inventory).

Internal resources (e.g., central & departmental IT and business analysts) are far

more likely to provide the integration services to embed BI into applications than

third parties (e.g., consultants, software vendors).

Industry support for both Embedded BI architecture and features is well aligned with

user requirements – providing a number of potential options for organizations to

choose from – possibly including BI vendor products already in use.




13

Study Demographics As with last year, we’ve seen a rich cross-section of data across geographies, functions,

organization size, and vertical industries. We believe that, unlike other industry

research, this supports a more representative sample and better indicator of true market

dynamics. Cross-tab analyses have been constructed using these demographics to

identify and illustrate important industry trends.

Geography

As in previous years, we’ve been able to attract survey respondents from a wide array

of geographies – including 25% from EMEA (35 countries) and 11% from APAC (15

countries). Although North America represents the largest group, it is in itself diverse –

representing five Canadian provinces, 43 US states and the Commonwealth of Puerto

Rico (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Geographic Distribution

59%

25%

11%

4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

North America Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia/Pacific Latin America

Geographic Distribution




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Functions

For 2013, we expanded the functions that we track – adding the BI Competency Center

(BICC) and splitting Sales and Marketing into their respective functions. While the IT

Department represents the largest single group of respondents, representing 35% of the

sample, executive management (18%) and the BICC (17%) are well represented

(Figure 3).

This distribution across functions has enabled us to develop analyses comparing and

contrasting the plans and priorities of the different departments within organizations.

Figure 3 - Functions Represented

36%

19% 17%

6% 5% 4% 4% 3% 3%

1% 1% 0% 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Functions Represented




15

Vertical Industries

For 2013, vertical industry distribution was similar to 2012– with solid participation from

Technology, Consulting, Financial Services, Health Care, and Manufacturing. We

encourage the participation of consultants – who oftentimes have deeper industry

knowledge than their customer counterparts. This also yields insight into the partner

ecosystem for BI vendors (Figure 4).

Figure 4 - Vertical Industries

24%

15%

12%

10% 9%

7% 6%

5% 5%

4% 3%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Vertical Industries




16

Organization Size

We saw strong participation from a balanced mix of small, medium and large

organizations (Figure 5). Similar to 2012, this year the largest of organizations

represented 24% of the sample, mid-sized organizations 45% and the smallest of

organizations 31%. As with previous years, we have found important differences by

organization size.

Figure 5 – Organization Size

31%

27%

7%

10%

7%

18%

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35%

1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000

Organization Size




17

Analysis &

Trends




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Analysis & Trends: Business Intelligence Users

Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence

Although Business Intelligence remains dominated by more traditional approaches and

technologies, Embedded BI scored high on the list of priorities, with more than half of

respondents indicating it is “critical” or “very important” to them (Figure 6). This places

Embedded BI in the top half of our 19 technology/initiatives related to Business

Intelligence – higher than Big Data, Social media analysis, etc.

Figure 6 - Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Open Source Software

Complex Event Processing (CEP)

Social media Analysis (SocialBI)

Text Analytics

Big Data (e.g., Hadoop)

Ability to write to transactional applications

Software-as-a-Service and "Cloud" Computing

Collaborative Support for Group-based Analysis

Search-based interface

In-memory analysis

"Embedded" BI (contained within an application,…

Mobile Device Support

Data Mining, Advanced Algorithms, Predictive

Data Discovery

Integration with Operational Processes

Data Warehousing

Advanced visualization

End user "self service"

Dashboards

Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence

Critical Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important




19

Embedded Business Intelligence has resonated with our community of respondents with

a majority indicating it’s either “critical”, “very important” or “important” (Figure 7).

This sentiment has been echoed in conversations with many user organizations seeking

to make Business Intelligence pervasive and to enable and improve decision-making at

all levels within the organization – especially at an operational level.

Figure 7 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence

0%

5%

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35%

Critical Very Important Important SomewhatImportant

Not Important

Importance of Embedded BI




20

As with many new and emerging technology trends, North American organizations tend

to be among the earliest of adopters (Figure 8). Although North American organizations

comprise the greatest number of “critical” responses, Latin America and Asia Pacific

scored higher on a “weighted mean” basis. More EMEA organizations ranked

Embedded BI as “Not important” versus other geographies.

Figure 8 - Importance of Embedded BI by Geography

2.80

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North America Europe, MiddleEast, & Africa

Latin America Asia Pacific

Importance of Embedded BI by Geography

Not Important

Somewhat Important

Important

Very Important

Critical

Mean




21

Industries indicating greater importance of Embedded BI and – therefore - a desire to

deliver pervasive BI include: Financial Services, Telecommunications, Insurance and

Education. Those indicating the lowest importance include Retail & Wholesale,

Manufacturing, Health care and Transportation (Figure 9).

Figure 9 - Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry

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Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry

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22

From a departmental perspective, we find that “back office” functions (e.g., Supply

chain, IT, Operations) rate the importance of Embedded BI higher than their “front

office” counterparts (Figure 10). This aligns with our view that primary targets for

embedded BI are operational in nature. In other words, there is a desire to deliver

decision-making to tactical users who are closer to core business processes.

Figure 10 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Function

3.10

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Importance of Embedded BI by Select Function

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As with other studies, we observe a “U-shaped” curve of interest for Embedded BI with

the largest and smallest of organizations assigning greater importance than mid-sized

ones (Figure 11). This is typical of many new technologies or initiatives where smaller,

more agile organizations use it to drive competitive advantage while larger

organizations add it to strategic initiatives in an effort to improve efficiency,

effectiveness, etc.

Figure 11 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Organization Size

2.00

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1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than10,000

Importance of Embedded BI by Organization Size




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Those organizations seeking to deliver Business Intelligence to internal users were less

inclined towards an embedded approach. However, those seeking to automate external

constituents (customers, suppliers) were much more favorably inclined towards

Embedded BI (Figure 12). This makes sense as organizations strive to provide a

seamless experience for customers and suppliers – including BI as a part of that

interaction.

Figure 12 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Targeted Users of BI

2.90

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Importance of Embedded BI by Targeted Users

Not Important

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Supporting the previous analysis on page 22, operational roles which are driving BI tend

to favor embedding versus “front office” roles (Figure 13). By putting BI in context of

operational applications, tactical end users can incrementally improve performance on a

transactional level, which can be significant when aggregated at the corporate level.

Figure 13 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Driving Function

3.10

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Importance of Embedded BI by Driving Function

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We were interested to find that while Embedded BI is more important to “back office”

functions, their intent is to increase competitive advantage, enhance customer service

and grow revenues as opposed to only improving operational efficiency (Figure 14).

This strongly suggests that Embedded BI should be considered a strategic priority for

operational applications.

Figure 14 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by BI Objectives

3.25

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Importance of Embedded BI by Objective

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An interesting finding is that organizations with the greatest penetration of Business

Intelligence usage ascribe a higher priority and importance to Embedded BI than those

with lower density of usage (Figure 15). Those with the highest penetration also tend to

report the greatest success with Business Intelligence and tend to be more strategic in

its use.

Figure 15 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Penetration of BI Users

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Under 10% 11 - 20% 21 - 40% 41 - 60% 61 - 80% 81% ormore

Importance of Embedded BI by Penetration of Users

Not Important

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Important

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Mean




28

It is notable that more recent adopters of Business Intelligence tools and technologies

were more likely to give Embedded BI a higher priority than those that are well

established (Figure 16). While there may be a number of explanations for this

phenomenon, our assumption is that recent adopters are more open to recent

technological advancements and have a less rigid view of BI deployment options.

Figure 16 Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use

2.90

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Less than 1year

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Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use

Not Important

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Important

Very Important

Critical

Mean




29

Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture

Technical approaches for inclusion of BI functionality within other applications favor

more practical, modern and web-centered methods (e.g., iframe, RESTful). These are

followed by more programmatic approaches requiring development resources and 3GL

programming environments (e.g., Java API). And, finally, the least preferred methods

include widgets and gadgets (Figure 17).

Figure 17 - Prioritized Architecture for Embedded BI

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30

Although prioritization of embedded architectural approaches is fairly consistent across

different organization sizes, there are a few key differences (Figure 18). For example,

smaller organizations show a greater interest in Google Gadgets, Desktop widgets and

Web Services than their larger counterparts. Larger organizations prefer Frameworks,

.NET API and Portlets over smaller ones. In large part, this maps to existing

investments that organizations have already made in development tools, packaged

applications, etc.

Figure 18 - Embedded Architecture by Organization Size

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Embedded Architecture by Organization Size

1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000




31

Most vertical industries were fairly consistent in their preference for architectural

approaches for embedding BI capabilities (Figure 19). However, in particular, the

Technology industry was the most favorably inclined towards the use of HTML/iframe

and the least inclined towards Portlets and Frameworks. Government assigned a higher

priority to JavaScript than all other verticals.

Figure 19 - Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry

0.00

0.50

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3.00

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4.00Google Gadgets

COM

Desktop widgets

Portlets

Frameworks (Force.com,Sharepoint)

.NET API

Java API

Java_Script API

Web Services (RESTful, Soap)

HTML/ iframe

Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry

Technology Financial Services Health Care Education

Government Retail & Wholesale Insurance




32

Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Requirements

The top feature for Embedded Business Intelligence is “Interact with objects”, followed

by Single-sign-on – an essential element to create a seamless experience for users

(Figure 20). Other key user features include Refresh objects/prompts, Open/view

objects and Browse/select from catalog of objects. Although feature requirements were

less passive than simple viewing, more advance features such as “mashups” and

“predictive analytics” were a relatively low priority.

Figure 20 – Embedded Business Intelligence Capability Priorities

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Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Priorities

Unimportant

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Critical

Rating Average




33

Although there is general agreement for basic functionality across vertical industries,

Technology and Insurance have the most advanced requirements for Embedded BI

features – including Re-skinning and analytical algorithms (Figure 21). In contrast,

Education and Retail appear to have more modest requirements. In our opinion,

Embedded Business Intelligence can be used by these organizations as a means of

deepening relationships with customers and other “stakeholders”.

Figure 21 - Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry

0.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.50

Re-skinning/customizinginterface

Apply analyticalalgorithms, mining,

predictive

Modify/create objects

Browse/select fromcatalog of objects

Save & publish objectsOpen/view objects

Refresh objects/prompts

Single sign-on/securityintegration

Interact with objects(navigate, filter, drill)

Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry

Technology Financial Services Health Care Education

Government Retail & Wholesale Insurance




34

As noted earlier, the smallest and largest of organizations assign the highest priority to

Embedded BI compared to mid-sized ones. Likewise, they are more ambitious and are

more likely to fully exploit a range of embedded features (Figure 22). That said, smaller

organizations appear even more aggressive than their larger counterparts – especially

concerning “re-skinning” and “mashups”.

Figure 22 – Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size

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1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

Re-skinning/customizinginterface

Introduce user-supplieddata for "mashups"


Apply analyticalalgorithms, mining,

predictive

Save & publish objects

Browse/select fromcatalog of objects

Open/view objects


Single sign-on/securityintegration

Interact with objects(navigate, filter, drill)

Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size

1-1000 1001-5000 5000 +




35

Targeted Applications for Embedded Business Intelligence

Topping the list of application targets for Embedded BI are: Web portals, Financial

management applications (e.g., treasury, procurement, compliance) and ERP (e.g.,

order processing, inventory). Although Web portal integration is a fairly general

requirement, the others are more operational in nature and consistent with our other

findings (Figure 23).

Figure 23 – Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence

Unimportant

Somewhat Important

Important

Very Important

Critical

Rating Average




36

The importance of targeted applications tends to vary by the department of the person

responding to the question. For example, supply chain managers give a higher priority

to embedding BI in supply chain and ERP applications, while sales & marketing

management focus upon sales and marketing applications (Figure 24). That said, there

is general agreement across all functions that financial management and ERP

applications are a high priority.

Figure 24 - Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function

Finance Information Technology (IT) Marketing

Operations Sales Supply Chain

Average




37

Confirming our current view, smaller organizations tend to focus upon “front office”

applications for Embedded BI (e.g., Salesforce management applications, Marketing

automation applications) while larger organizations focus more upon “back office” (ERP

applications, Financial management applications) (Figure 25).

Figure 25 - Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size

1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000

5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000 Average




38

Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence

When we first asked who would provide the integration services to embed BI into

applications, we expected third parties (e.g., consultants, software vendors) to figure

more prominently. However, internal resources (e.g., central & departmental IT and

business analysts) are far more likely to be relied upon for this work (Figure 26).

Figure 26 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence

Unlikely

Possibly

Probably

Definitely

Rating Average




39

Geography plays an important role in determining who will embed Business Intelligence

capabilities within other applications (Figure 27). Specifically, North American

organizations prefer internal resources (e.g., departmental IT) to do the work. In

contrast, APAC and EMEA prefer external resources (e.g., consultants, software

vendors).

Figure 27 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

Central ITDepartment

Third partyconsultant

Applicationsoftware vendor

Departmental IT BI Softwarevendor

Business Analyst

Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography

North America Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia/Pacific




40

From a functional perspective, most indicated a preference for the Central IT department to do

the work of embedding Business Intelligence capabilities (Figure 28). In contrast, Departmental

IT and Business Analyst integration resources were preferred by Human Resources, Supply

chain and Finance functions – which have a history of using alternatives to Central IT-delivered

solutions.

Figure 28 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

BusinessIntelligenceCompetency

Finance HumanResources

InformationTechnology

(IT)

Marketing Operations Sales Supply Chain

Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function

Application software vendor Third party consultant BI Software vendor

Business Analyst Departmental IT Central IT Department




41

While all industries appear to favor Central IT for integration and embedding of BI capabilities,

several indicated a secondary preference for Departmental IT. These include Healthcare,

Government, Manufacturing, Retail & Wholesale (Figure 29). Business Analysts were a

secondary choice for Technology and Insurance industries. Financial Services was the only

industry to prefer Third party consultants as a secondary integration resource.

Figure 29 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry

Application software vendor Departmental IT BI Software vendor

Business Analyst Third party consultant Central IT Department




42

All sizes of organizations preferred a Central IT function to carry out the work of embedded BI

functionality into other applications (Figure 30). Smaller organizations also relied upon third

party resources (BI and Application software vendors) more so than their larger counterparts. In

addition, Departmental IT becomes more prominent, as an integration resource, in relation to

organization size.

Figure 30 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than10,000

Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size

Application software vendor Third party consultant BI Software vendor

Business Analyst Departmental IT Central IT Department




43

Industry and

Vendor

Analysis




44

Industry and Vendor Analysis We reached out to the vendor community and asked questions about their capabilities

and plans for Embedded BI, including its perceived importance to their strategies.

What we found is typical of most nascent market dynamics. While the greatest majority

of vendors believe that Embedded BI is “critically important” (51%), a smaller number of

vendors remain less committed (Figure 31).

Figure 31 - Industry Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence

51%

31%

18%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Critically important Very important Somewhat Important

Industry Importance of Embedded BI




45

Today, a majority of vendors support the most popular architectural options for

embedding BI (e.g., iframe, RESTful). Industry support for additional architectural

options is expected to expand, including JavaScript and Java APIs, Frameworks and

Portlets by 2016 (Figure 32). However, we expect to see only limited industry support

for .NET, Google Gadgets, Desktop widgets and COM.

Figure 32 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture 2013 - 2015

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Industry Support for Embedded BI Architecture

No Plans

24 Months

12 Months

Available Today




46

User and industry alignment of architectural priorities for Embedded BI is unusually

good (Table 1). This removes what might otherwise have been a significant barrier, and

should help to facilitate the proliferation of embedded Business Intelligence capabilities

more quickly.

Table 1 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence

Architecture

User Requirement Vendor Capabilities

HTML/ iframe HTML/ iframe

Web Services (RESTful, Soap) Web Services (RESTful, Soap)

Java_Script API Java_Script API

Java API Java API

Frameworks (Force.com, Sharepoint)

Frameworks (Force.com, Sharepoint)

.NET API Portlets

Portlets .NET API

Desktop widgets Google Gadgets

COM Desktop widgets

Google Gadgets COM




47

As with industry support for architecture, a majority of vendors today support all of the

Embedded BI features that we’ve documented (Figure 33). Basic capabilities are

supported by nearly 100% of vendors while more esoteric features – such as “mashups”

are less well supported. With that in mind, organizations seeking to embed BI

functionality today will find a number of viable alternatives – possibly including vendors

whose products may already be in use.

Figure 33 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Features 2013 - 2015

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Industry Support for Embedded Features 2013 - 2015

No Plans

24 Months

12 Months

Available Today




48

User requirements and current vendor capabilities are aligned for most features – including interacting with objects, open/view objects, and refresh objects/prompts (Table 2). Users place a higher priority upon single sign-on and Save & publish objects than vendors. Vendors place more importance upon Browse/select from catalog of options than users.

Table 2 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Features

User Requirement Vendor Capabilities

Interact with objects (navigate, filter, drill)


Single sign-on/security integration Browse/select from catalog of objects

Open/view objects Open/view objects

Refresh objects/prompts Refresh objects/prompts

Save & publish objects Single sign-on/security integration

Browse/select from catalog of objects

Re-skinning/customizing interface

Modify/create objects Save & publish objects

Apply analytical algorithms, mining, predictive


Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"


Re-skinning/customizing interface Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"




49

Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings

In rating the vendors, we considered Embedded BI features/capabilities and Embedded

architecture. A minimum score of 10/20 (50%) was required to be ranked. As a result,

out of 23 vendors rated in the 2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market

Study, a subset of 21 have been ranked for Embedded BI.

Vendors with a score of 80% (or better) include (in alphabetical order): Actuate,

Dundas, IBM, Information Builders, Jedox, LogiAnalytics, MicroStrategy, Pentaho, SAP,

SAS and Yellowfin (Figure 34).

Additional details surrounding Embedded BI vendor capabilities can be found in the

following Buyers’ Guide section (pages 51 – 52).




50

Figure 34 - Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Actuate

Birst

Dimensional Insight

Dundas

IBM

iDashboards

Infor

Information Builders

Jaspersoft

Jedox

LogiAnalyticsMicroStrategy

Oracle

Panopticon

Pentaho

QlikTech

SAP

SAS

Tableau

TIBCO Spotfire

Yellowfin

Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings

TOTAL PLATFORM TOTAL FEATURE TOTAL EMBEDDED SCORE




51

Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide In the following two pages, we detail current vendor Embedded BI functionality, based on our 20 criteria

surrounding architecture (Table 3) and features (Table 4).

Table 3 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Architecture

Vendor A

ctu

ate

Co

rp

Bir

st

Dim

en

sio

na

l In

sig

ht

Du

nd

as D

ata

V

isu

aliz

atio

n,

Inc.

IBM

iDa

sh

bo

ard

s

Info

r

Info

rma

tio

n B

uild

ers

In

c.

Ja

sp

ers

oft

C

orp

ora

tio

n

Je

do

x A

G

Lo

giX

ML

, In

c.

Mic

roS

tra

teg

y,

Inc

Ora

cle

Pa

no

ptico

n

So

ftw

are

P

en

tah

o

Qlik

Te

ch

SA

P

SA

S

Ta

ble

au

So

ftw

are

TIB

CO

So

ftw

are

In

c.

Ye

llow

fin

HTML/ iframe X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Web Services (RESTful, Soap)

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Google Gadgets X X X X X X X

Desktop widgets X X X X X X

Portlets X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Java_Script API X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Java API X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

.NET API X X X X X X X X X X X

COM X X X X X X

Frameworks X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X




52

Table 4 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Capabilities

Vendor

Actu

ate

Co

rp

Bir

st

Dim

en

sio

na

l In

sig

ht

Du

nd

as D

ata

V

isu

aliz

atio

n,

Inc.

IBM

iDa

sh

bo

ard

s

Info

r

Info

rma

tio

n B

uild

ers

In

c.

Ja

sp

ers

oft

C

orp

ora

tio

n

Je

do

x A

G

Lo

giX

ML

, In

c.

Mic

roS

tra

teg

y,

Inc

Ora

cle

Pa

no

ptico

n

So

ftw

are

P

en

tah

o

Qlik

Te

ch

SA

P

SA

S

Ta

ble

au

So

ftw

are

TIB

CO

So

ftw

are

In

c.

Ye

llow

fin

Browse/select from catalog of objects

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Open/view objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X





Modify/create objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Save & publish objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X


X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Single sign-on/security integration


Re-skinning/customizing interface





53

Glossary An application programming interface (API) specifies how some software components should

interact with each other. In practice, most often an API is a library that includes specifications for

routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. An API specification can take many

forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX, vendor documentation such as the

Microsoft Windows API, the libraries of a programming language, e.g., Standard Template

Library in C++ or Java API. An API differs from an application binary interface (ABI) in that an

API is source code based while an ABI is a binary interface. For instance POSIX is an API,

while the Linux Standard Base is an ABI. *

Component Object Model (COM) is a binary-interface standard for software components

introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable inter-process communication and dynamic

object creation in a large range of programming languages. COM is the basis for several other

Microsoft technologies and frameworks, including OLE, OLE Automation, ActiveX, COM+,

DCOM, the Windows shell, DirectX, and Windows Runtime. *

Google Gadgets are dynamic web content that can be embedded on a web page. They can be

added to and interact strongly with Google's iGoogle personalized home page (although this will

be discontinued in November 2013) and the Google Desktop (discontinued in September 2011)

application, as well as Google Wave (also no longer supported by Google). Webmasters can

add and customize a gadget to their own business or personal web site, a process called

"syndication." Gadgets are developed by Google and third-party developers using the Google

Gadgets API, using basic web technologies such as XML and JavaScript. *

The HTML <iframe> Element (or HTML inline frame element) represents a nested browsing

context, effectively embedding another HTML page into the current page. In HTML 4.01, a

document may contain a head and a body or a head and a frame-set, but not both a body and a

frame-set. However, an <iframe> can be used within a normal document body. Each browsing

context has its own session history and active document. The browsing context that contains

the embedded content is called the parent browsing context. The top-level browsing context

(which has no parent) is typically the browser window. (Source: Mozilla Developer Network)

JavaScript (JS) is an interpreted computer programming language. It was originally

implemented as part of web browsers so that client-side scripts could interact with the user,

control the browser, communicate asynchronously, and alter the document content that was

displayed. More recently, however, it has become common in both game development and the

creation of desktop applications. *

A mashup, in web development, is a web page, or web application, that uses and combines

data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. The term

implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open application programming interfaces (API)

and data sources to produce enriched results that were not necessarily the original reason for

producing the raw source data. *




54

The main characteristics of a mashup are combination, visualization, and aggregation. It is

important to make existing data more useful, for personal and professional use. To be able to

permanently access the data of other services, mashups are generally client applications or

hosted online. *

The .NET Framework is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on

Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and provides language interoperability (each

language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages.

Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software environment (as contrasted to

hardware environment), known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual

machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception

handling. The class library and the CLR together constitute the .NET Framework. *

Portlets are pluggable user interface software components that are managed and displayed in

a web portal. Portlets produce fragments of markup code that are aggregated into a portal.

Typically, following the desktop metaphor, a portal page is displayed as a collection of non-

overlapping portlet windows, where each portlet window displays a portlet. Hence a portlet (or

collection of portlets) resembles a web-based application that is hosted in a portal. Some

examples of portlet applications are email, weather reports, discussion forums, and news.

Portlet standards are intended to enable software developers to create portlets that can be

plugged into any portal supporting the standards. *

A web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the World

Wide Web. A web service is a software function provided at a network address over the web or

the cloud, it is a service that is "always on" as in the concept of utility computing. The W3C

defines a "Web service" as: [...] a software system designed to support interoperable machine-

to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processable

format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed

by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML

serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards. The W3C also states: We can

identify two major classes of Web services: REST-compliant Web services, in which the primary

purpose of the service is to manipulate XML representations of Web resources using a uniform

set of "stateless" operations; and arbitrary Web services, in which the service may expose an

arbitrary set of operations. *

A software widget is a generic type of software application comprising portable code intended

for one or more different software platforms. The term often implies that either the application,

user interface, or both, are light, meaning relatively simple and easy to use, as exemplified by a

desk accessory or applet, as opposed to a more complete software package such as a

spreadsheet or word processor. *

* Source: Wikipedia except where noted




55

Appendix: Embedded Business Intelligence Study Survey Instrument




56




57




58




59




60




61




62
