INTEGRATED SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS DRIVE DATA WAREHOUSE & DECISION SUPPORT BUSINESS

According to a recently released market research study from Palo Alto Management Group (PAMG), SAS Institute Inc. is the leading independent software vendor in the integrated data warehouse/decision support market. In all, the eight companies identified together accounted for 46 percent of user expenditures for data warehousing/decision support solutions in 1997. Today's top players include SAS Institute, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Compaq Computer, Sun Microsystems, NCR and Andersen Consulting.

According to Michael P. Burwen, the study's director and PAMG's president, "In 1997, users spent nearly $15 billion on data warehousing worldwide. Those eight companies accounted for 85 percent of the systems business, 45 percent of the packaged software business and 57 percent of the service business. This record is remarkable given that there are at least 200 companies participating in the market. There is no doubt that all these companies will continue to be major players and will enjoy rapid growth in this market which is increasing at better than 50 percent annually."

Dr. Scott A. Optenberg, Chief, Analysis Branch, U.S. Army Center for Healthcare Education and Studies, agrees with the value of a combined data warehousing/decision support approach, and gauges his success on the reactions of end users/customers. "Our goal was to give information to the user first. With SAS(R) data warehouse and decision support software solutions, we slashed a seven- to nine-month time lag down to just five days, and we realized $28 Million in savings in three years."

According to Jim Davis, SAS Institute program manager for data warehousing, "Users have concluded that partnering with the one company that has had consistent success with its open, yet complete warehousing software and methodology offering, decision support arsenal and ERP warehousing solution is a good way to extend their own successful strategy. Users acknowledge that a mix-and-match approach is simply not successful. SAS Institute customers benefit by being able to build data warehouses much faster, involving less risk, and achieving a faster return on investment. And, customer benefit is what SAS Institute is all about."

The report emphasizes that software is the fastest growing part of the data warehousing business. It also notes that software and services markets are wide open. Big Six firms and the services divisions of the major systems vendors are nearly all emphasizing their data warehouse practices. But there are plenty of both niche and general opportunities for independent services firms. The report also expects to see the ERP vendors, such as Baan, PeopleSoft and SAP and a lot of vertical specialty firms jumping into this market with both feet. " Users are looking for business solutions, not piece parts," added Burwen, "and it's the software and services companies that will furnish most of those answers."

Entitled "Data Solutions II" the study is based on 375 interviews conducted in North America, Europe and Japan, most of which were conducted over the Internet using one of the most in-depth questionnaires ever devised for Internet-based research. The study is available from Palo Alto Management Group, Inc., a leading market research and consulting firm specializing in the data warehousing and decision support markets. Documentation describing the study and a white paper may be found at http://www.pamg.com/dbsolutions