Microsoft Targets the Analytic Applications Market

Analytic application vendors will likely claim to “welcome” Microsoft to the analytic applications market, at least until Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is commercially available. Many of them will point to their own integration with current versions of Microsoft Office. But because Microsoft products are perceived by many as low-cost, easy-to-implement offerings, analytic application vendors will need to compete aggressively in terms of cost and implementation assistance. As they attempt to position any Microsoft analytic application as an entry-level solution, many prospects will also be thinking of how Microsoft has historically improved its offerings over time, in some cases dramatically, with each successive release.

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