BI makes cognoscenti at C-level

Those in the know (the cognoscenti, if you like), say Cognos, while not ruling the roost, still contends strongly after some tough times locally. Local ICT research firm BMI-Techknowledge, in its BI Tools Market Assessment and Forecast for 2000-2005, put Cognos third in the SA market in 2002, behind SAS and Hyperion, with a share of just less than R25 million of a R211 million market.

Of course, things are never that rosy. Coming on board after a period of two years in which Cognos Africa lost ground to its rivals, MD David McWilliam is cognisant of the ills. For, while market share in 2000 was respectable at over 11 percent in a field riddled with competitors, BMI found Cognos was rated only eighth best by end-users.

He is nothing if not forthright. “It`s been a tough year. Cognos Africa did not have permanent management in that time, with Ralph (Pecker, the MD before McWilliam`s predecessor Peter Gerson) filling in again from April until my appointment in September.

This financial year (ending in February), we will have grown less than five percent.” International Cognos standards reach into the double digits, but this was made possible largely thanks to a settlement paid in the previous year to Business Objects, reflected in a special charge of $23.2 million.

But things are looking up

The outlook for next year is better, says McWilliam, with the African subsidiary (wholly owned by Cognos with a profit sharing agreement in favour of its local MD) gearing itself up for up to 30 percent growth. Partly, this is possible because of the group`s acquisition of Adaytum (pending shareholder and SEC approval), a player in planning and budgeting tools. Internationally, this means Cognos could grow by 20 percent, an optimism that may be dampened by the death-grip that international hostilities have on the market.

Adaytum`s offering provides a front-end to what Cognos and Gartner call “corporate performance management” (CPM), by which they mean the elevation of BI to a strategic level of importance across departments. Even though Adaytum is present in South Africa only through a channel partner named BME Financial Workgroup, and McWilliam knows little of its installed base, this should enable Cognos to tackle archrival Hyperion head-on in an area it has lost out on in the past.

CPM itself is pretty exciting for BI vendors, enterprise vendors and analysts alike. Prompted by depressed times, it aims to formalise the art of extracting value from existing investments.

Although many financial services companies have not embraced ERP, and despite this being Cognos`s most significant market, CPM is an area of growth that excites McWilliam – also because it allows the rationalisation of its channel to a few strategic partners that service high-value, managed accounts.

“When the Enron scandal broke, executives started demanding better enterprise information. It is this corporate governance dynamic, along with a demand for business value that drives acceptance,” says McWilliam. “We sell at the executive or ‘C-level` [CEO, CIO, CFO, etc], which suits the USP of BI fine.

Other factors that will get BI juices flowing again include an increase in worldwide uptake, fuelled in part by Gartner beating the BI drum after expressing dire reservations some years ago, when desktop-based systems first centralised BI to the web realm.

Channel discovery

McWilliam inherited an extensive channel, a motley bunch with their fingers in a fantastic fricassee of verticals. “We may be more stringent in our selection in future,” he says, politely. “Those who understand their clients` businesses intimately will be of help in getting across the benefits of CPM. Specifically, value-added resellers [VARs] who sell and implement enterprise solutions into managed client bases will succeed with us.”

Not that the channel will ever again be the holy cow it once was. Cognos has a direct purchasing and product relationship with customers who realise the strategic importance of BI. “In such cases, we provide them with CVs, if you like, of partners we think can add value to their investments. With four professional service consultants in-house we cannot provide all or even much of the consulting required, and we will fully inform our channel of such developments.”

With partners like Dimension Data and Comparex, Cognos is serious about utilising its outsourced skills base. “Our web-based education and training initiatives are working well and we will continue to support our channel even where a direct relationship is asked for.”

Business in Africa

Cognos, based in Sandton, set up offices in South Africa four years ago. “Originally, we managed two distributors from the UK,” reflects McWilliam. “That didn`t get us enough coverage, and Ralph was appointed MD of the new direct presence. Cognos Africa then appointed distributors, and that situation evolved to, first, a proliferation of VARs (some 30 a year ago), and subsequently a stable set of seven or eight.

The local subsidiary provides less than half a percent of the group`s turnover. McWilliam hopes to push this up to one percent. The company plans a long and fruitful local stay, saying it finds it easy with a small staff complement to satisfy empowerment dictates.

Being a truly digitised company, logistics do not present a problem either. “All our operational procedures are network-based,” he says.

In addition, the group is showing its faith in McWilliam and the country, with the hefty profit sharing arrangement and additional investment enabling an active recruitment drive for alliance and strategic account managers and other senior people.