By Amaury Gallisa *
According to Gartner, data and analytics are the main drivers of any organization's digitization and digital transformation efforts. Without this, companies will not be able to compete in this emerging digital economy, which requires faster, more forward-looking decisions. We are, therefore, talking about a market in rapid growth, which according to IDC is expected to grow 12% in relation to 2018. This should occur, especially due to the increasing interest of companies in understanding their consumers, the trends of their segments and general aspects that involve business. But, what about backstage? What will be the highlights of this market? Could it be that history, as well as the latest events that have become public, are a harbinger of changes in course?
We have no doubt that this is a promising market and we, the players in the sector, see a series of opportunities due to the growing importance that data and analytics have conquered in the daily lives of everyone who makes decisions, whatever they may be. However, we cannot deny that there are some points that deserve to be noted. The recent news in the media about the acquisitions - from Tableau, by Salesforce, and Looker, by Google Cloud - creates a certain expectation of what this market will look like going forward.
Firstly, because it is impossible not to correlate these latest events with those of 2007, when, as today, this segment of data and analytics was on the rise. Just to remind you, I am referring to what has become known as "consolidation of the BI market". That was when Hyperion, Cognos and BO were acquired by giants and their technologies incorporated into the equally huge portfolios of these companies. In other words, business intelligence solutions are now offered within a package of offers. And in the market, there is almost nobody left focused on this type of solution.
Looking at this story can help to gain insights, which, incidentally, is very conducive to a market that "lives" from relying on historical data to make decisions and make predictive analyzes based on that. What are the impacts in general? Who won and who lost in 2007 and who will be impacted now?
For the shareholders of the companies in question, both in that wave of acquisitions and in this one, it was evidently profitable. But, was it for those who invested in these tools expecting a return on their investments, that the outcome was positive? Many companies have failed to realize the value or even preserve their investments. This is because innovation has stopped, platforms have not kept up with evolution and, especially, they have not responded to the needs that have emerged in the face of new scenarios and, above all, the importance that intelligence and data have conquered over the years. So, is being bigger is synonymous with being better and having the best technology?
Other than that, companies increasingly want flexible technologies - in the cloud or on premise - and tend to prioritize long-term partnerships that bring innovation while preserving investments. And it is questionable whether suppliers who restrict themselves to offering their technologies in a single model, such as in the cloud, are able to give the market the necessary flexibility; or those who do not have data and analytics as a core business are able to follow all trends and remain innovative; and, in the end, guarantee the preservation of investments.
Forrester itself, which is one of the companies that analyze the market, anticipating more turbulent times in the BI industry, recently started to recommend the integration of multiple data and analytics platforms, through what they call "BI fabric". In other words, it means integrating diverse sources and diverse data platforms and creating a concept of federated analyzes that allow you to build and deploy a corporate application with reliable and unified data.
Anyway, there are many questions. And it would even be imprudent to have the answers since the movements have barely started and we are on a speculative level. However, like many companies - according to a Forbes study, until 2020, predictive and prescriptive analysis will attract 40% of business investments in Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Analytics (BA) - they should bet on this technology soon, it is ponderous that everyone and, especially, who has data and analytics in the plans, let us start reflecting on these aspects that I commented above before deciding on the solution and the model that they will adopt in their projects. It is important to take into account several aspects, however, look at the fact that whoever remained focused and experienced all these changes in the scenario and at the same time evolved, certainly has some competitive differential in this regard. Remembering that there is something that teaches, that something is history.
* Amaury Gallisa is vice president for Latin America at MicroStrategy
Disclaimer: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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