BACKLOG OF UNUSED LICENSES HINDERS SALES

Shelfware for the ten leading OLAP products range as high as 62%, with an average of 39%, according to a recently released study published by Survey.com, a leading eResearch company, in partnership with Nigel Pendse, noted OLAP expert and author.

"Despite the remarkable fact that organizations typically have two licensed but unused seats for every three they have deployed, most people still said they planned to purchase more seats in the future -- though the current economic slowdown might put those plans on hold," said Nigel Pendse, OLAP expert and author of The OLAP Survey. "And although cost was often cited as a deterrent, over 80 percent of organizations would like to deploy their OLAP solutions more widely."

The study also highlights how the majority of users conduct formal product evaluations. OLAP products that are subjected most often to formal evaluations include those from Brio, Hyperion, and MicroStrategy. Business Objects and Cognos buyers were also more likely than average to conduct a formal evaluation. Microsoft, Oracle, and Crystal Decisions buyers were the least likely to conduct an evaluation. How likely a product was to be chosen after an evaluation varied considerably from a high of 80 percent for Microsoft OLAP down to 25 percent for products like IBM DB2 OLAP Server, Crystal (Seagate) Holos, and SAS MDDB.

While some users do experience product problems such as slow queries and software unreliability, the most often reported issues have nothing to do with the products themselves. "The biggest problems OLAP users have to deal with are not technical but rather environmental in nature," said Brad Peppard, vice president of marketing at Survey.com. "Across the board, company politics tops the list of problems, closely followed by a failure to agree on requirements. The biggest technical issues were data quality and availability."

Spending on OLAP product implementations can range from over ten thousand dollars to well over half a million, and initial roll-outs range from less than a month to over two years. Even when in-house IT resources are utilized for implementations, external spending continues to be strong. But the greatest project success did not come with either the most expensive implementation partners or with internal IT resources.

Overall, OLAP buyers were reasonably satisfied, with 71 percent saying they had at least largely achieved their original business goals. But there were noticeable differences between major products, with the OLAP buyers saying that they had at least largely met their goals ranging from 43 to 83 percent. There were also big differences in the rates of Web deployment between different products.

The first in-depth (136 pages, 36 tables, 40 charts), vendor-independent examination of the evolving market, The OLAP Survey report is now available from Survey.com. Based on interviews with nearly 650 highly qualified OLAP users in 46 countries, this study analyzes the products, vendors, and users' experiences in this dynamic market. A few of the topics covered in the report include, which OLAP products are being purchased and why, customer disloyalty, what products are more likely to win evaluations, how many seats are purchased and the spending per seat, how long projects take to roll out, what are the success rates for OLAP projects, and what environmental and technical problems are encountered.

For more information on the study or to request a free overview, please visit: www.survey.com/reports/olap.

About the Author

Nigel Pendse has been involved with business intelligence products for over 25 years, first as a user, then as a vendor, and since 1994, as an independent industry analyst. He is the lead author of The OLAP Report, a comprehensive online, www.olapreport.com, resource that provides an in-depth analysis of OLAP applications, usage, products, and the market. He also acts as a consultant to buyers and vendors of OLAP products and is a popular conference speaker.

About Survey.com

Survey.com is a leading provider of eResearch and is the first company to successfully harness the power of the Internet for conducting primary and secondary market research. Last year the company completed more than 450,000 Internet-based surveys for both proprietary and syndicated market research studies on a broad range of topics, including information technology, consumer electronics, and entertainment. The firm's clients include Blockbuster Entertainment, Canon Computer Systems, Cisco Systems, Compaq, EarthLink Network, eBay, Ford Motor Company, Gateway, IBM, J. Walter Thompson, Motorola, and 3Com. For more information, visit www.survey.com.

Contact Survey.com, Brad Peppard, 408-907-0001 x500, brad@peppard.com.