| BI has become one of the most promising | | | | product developers have successfully upgraded |
| sectors in the global information technology | | | | their core technologies, the key for their sales |
| market, and it is also an important part in the | | | | achievements last year still lies in the cooperative |
| enterprise informationization evolution in China. | | | | partnerships with downstream integrators and |
| Statistics showed that in 2007, the BI market in | | | | distributors. |
| mainland China had reached 2 billion yuan (US$ 260 | | | | Industry growth |
| million), up 35% from 2006, consisting of BI | | | | The BI markets of financial, telecommunication |
| product licensing of 900 million yuan and BI | | | | and insurance industries had all experienced 20% |
| system integration of 1.1 billion yuan. There are | | | | or so growth rates in 2007, while 30%-plus |
| currently more than 500 BI companies (product | | | | growth rates were seen in energy, manufacturing |
| developers, integrators, distributors and service | | | | and government sectors. The environment for |
| providers) employing about 80,000 employees in | | | | implementing corporate-scale BI systems is |
| China. | | | | becoming sophisticated in large companies, so it |
| BI is usually referred to as software solutions that | | | | remains an important part of the whole BI |
| can compile existing enterprise data into proper | | | | market of China for the next three years. |
| knowledge, in order to assist a company's decision | | | | Medium size companies will be the major growth |
| making process. BI usually involves the following | | | | spot in the Chinese BI market, as this segment |
| technologies: data mart, data warehouse, user | | | | will be in a development phase in the next three |
| query & report, online analytical processing | | | | years. BI systems for small companies are still at |
| (OLAP), data mining, key performance indicators | | | | an early stage, and it is expected to be maturing |
| and analytic application. | | | | in five years' time. Overall, demand for BI |
| Leading BI technology companies in China | | | | products in China will enter a fast growing phase |
| Guangzhou Sunnet - Sunnet has been operating | | | | in the next five years, with an estimated 5 billion |
| for nine years, starting from the basic | | | | yuan value, and followed by another three years |
| multi-dimensional analytical product BlueQuery2.6 in | | | | of post-maturity extension period. |
| 2001 to the latest BlueQueryEnterpriseV product | | | | BI softwares can be more independently |
| for enterprise multi-dimensional analytical services. | | | | implemented in large Chinese companies, while BI |
| Shanghai Tenly Software - Tenly's | | | | capabilities in small and medium enterprises may |
| Markway-branded products include analytical | | | | still have to rely on management softwares such |
| systems, network mining system, intelligent | | | | as ERP and CRM. Therefore, it is expected that |
| reporting and informationization testing software. | | | | there will be an increasing number of BI products |
| Its Markway analytical system was the first | | | | being embedded into ERP and CRM management |
| Chinese language-based, large-scale statistics | | | | softwares as complementary capabilities. But for |
| analysis and data mining software with proprietary | | | | the long term, BI developers in China should pay |
| intellectual property in China. | | | | more attention to operative BI products. |
| ADM Software - ADM has successfully completed | | | | The biggest constraints for popularizing BI |
| more than 200 large and medium scale projects, | | | | products are their high prices and lack of |
| with relatively sophisticated BI solutions for the | | | | supporting talents. While industries such as finance, |
| financial, aerospace, retail and government | | | | telecommunication, insurance, energy and |
| sectors. ADM has become a leader in the | | | | electricity may have higher reliance on BI |
| enterprise decision-making supporting system field | | | | capabilities, companies from other industries may |
| in China. | | | | require relatively smaller BI investments. The |
| Beijing Ourway Power Co - This is a fast-growing | | | | whole BI industry in China is expected to become |
| company for enterprise informationization of small | | | | more competitive, reducing the overall pricing level. |
| and medium enterprises. Its Power-BI enterprise | | | | Therefore, there would be a higher volume of BI |
| decision analytical system is the first | | | | license sales, but total sales value growth may |
| fast-installation BI software in China. | | | | remain relatively stable. |
| Competition landscape | | | | Segment market demand analysis |
| Due to the surging global mergers and acquisitions | | | | Demand for BI products of different segments |
| activities in 2007, the BI software market from | | | | may change over time, and the performance |
| now on will be dominated by IBM, Oracle, SAP | | | | results in 2007 were as follows: |
| and Microsoft, and specialist BI companies such as | | | | Reporting and OLAP products - Reporting is a |
| SAS, Informatica and Microstrategy are expected | | | | basic aspect of BI capabilities, and OLAP |
| to lead the product developments in the industry. | | | | multi-dimensional analysis is an outstanding feature |
| Currently local Chinese BI companies have a | | | | of BI. Although reporting and OLAP products |
| market share of 36% in China, and Chinese BI | | | | accounted for 45% of the BI market, this |
| licenses only make up of 6% of total BI licensing | | | | segment was highly competitive, with multinational |
| revenue in China. | | | | players capturing more than 80% of shares. |
| Multinational BI advantages | | | | Data Warehouse Products - Data warehouse and |
| Revenue sources of multinational BI companies in | | | | data mart products were another foundation for |
| China mainly come from product sales, technical | | | | BI projects, accounting for 40% of China's BI |
| services and large-scale project integration. | | | | market, with foreign providers occupying |
| Multinationals currently have competitive | | | | prominent market positions. |
| advantages in data warehouses, data mining, ETL | | | | ETL and data integration tools - Although ETL and |
| (Extract, Transform and Load), reporting and | | | | data integration accounted for 40% of a typical |
| OLAP, with strong market shares in large | | | | BI project, ETL tools only had a 9% market |
| projects of financial, telecommunication, insurance | | | | share in China. Many applications are still based on |
| and energy sectors. | | | | manual coding methods in China, which means it |
| Domestic BI advantages | | | | will take some time for ETL tools to get |
| Local Chinese BI companies are making most | | | | popularised. |
| money from system integration and product | | | | Data mining - Data mining technologies, with 3% |
| sales, and local system integration companies | | | | market shares in 2007, have now relatively |
| have captured half of the system integration | | | | matured, but the lack of technical support experts |
| market of financial and telecommunication sectors. | | | | is hindering their acceptance. |
| Local BI product developers have achieved | | | | Other products such as performance |
| significant progress in 2007, especially BI reporting | | | | management, KPI and meta data collectively had |
| products from Sunnet and Runqian. Although | | | | 3% market shares in China last year. |