"Our number-one ranking in IDC's annual BI tools report is great validation of our ability to execute on new products and technologies that optimize business performance," said Marge Breya, general manager and executive vice president, Business Intelligence Platform, Business Objects, as Business Objects today announced that research analyst firm IDC has ranked it as the number one vendor for business intelligence (BI) tools.

Business Objects has a 14.2 percent market share, and combined with SAP the company leads the market with a 19.2 percent share. The market analysis, titled “Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools 2007 Vendor Shares: Query, Reporting, Analysis and Advanced Analytics Market Stable in the Face of Economic Turmoil,” (IDC # 212921) finds Business Objects to have demonstrated leading market shares and revenues, and reports that BI remains one of the top investment priorities for companies globally.

“At Business Objects, our mission is to transform the way the world works by connecting people, information and businesses,” said Breya.

In 2008, she added, Business Objects has already delivered the largest platform release in company history, making it the first vendor to bring data integration and data quality together in one product. Together with the BI foundation from SAP NetWeaver and the Business Objects BI platform, Business Objects continues to deliver the leading business intelligence for SAP environments today.

The IDC report also states that the introduction of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence Accelerator also contributed to SAP’s strength of offering and position in the ranking, as did its data warehousing capabilities. SAP was listed separately from Business Objects in IDC’s report on the 2007 BI tools market since the acquisition was completed in January 2008. SAP and Business Objects will appear in the 2008 market report as a single entity.

“IDC’s 2007 BI tools report marks the eighth year that Business Objects has been listed as the software revenue market leader in this market,” said Dan Vesset, vice president of business analytics research, IDC. “This report focuses on business intelligence tools, excluding Business Objects revenue from related product segments such as data integration tools and performance management applications. These additional tools and applications provide Business Objects customers with the option to expand their total business analytics architecture with additional software from the same vendor. Combined with strong BI capabilities from the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, Business Objects provides business users with critical insight – regardless of whether they are SAP or non-SAP customers.”

According to the IDC report, Business Objects also made history as the first BI vendor to reach the $1 billion revenue mark. Business Objects reached this milestone through customers’ continued adoption of its BusinessObjects XI platform and expanded offerings in the broader business analytics software market. In addition, the company extended its product portfolio through the acquisitions of Cartesis for financial performance management, Inxight for content analysis and Fuzzy Informatik for data quality management.