What the 'Google Effect' Means for Business Intelligence

Lora Bentley spoke with Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies.

Bentley: You have said that search technology has affected enterprise software by way of the Google effect. Explain that.
Kaplan: Let's look at it this way: With the tremendous success of Google in the popular search environment and its Google Apps, people have become familiar and comfortable with on-demand, or software-as-a-service as an alternative to traditional on-premises software. As a result, the SaaS concept is now is permeating almost every segment of the software industry and ompanies of almost all sizes are looking at software-as-a-service as an alternative to traditional packaged applications.

Bentley: So what's the problem with traditional software?
Kaplan: Large and small organizations are becoming increasingly frustrated and fed up with traditional applications that must be purchased up front,  deployed and maintained by the customer, and often lead them to spending more time and money than expected, not only to roll them out but to keep them up and running. It often results in customers getting far less in terms of utility than they expected and spending more than they expected. What they are looking for is an easier-to-use, more economical alternative. Because of the success of popular on-demand services, they're very interested in adopting the same types of software services within their corporate environments.

Bentley: What are some examples of software-as-a-service for the corporate environment?
Kaplan: Salesforce.com has been very successful with its customer relationship management and sales force automation applications, and with its App Exchange, which is a platform and a clearinghouse for third-party on-demand software as a service solutions. It has led to a proliferation of those kinds of solutions across almost every application category, including business intelligence.

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