Summary

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To borrow a phrase from a data warehouse vendor, business intelligence is not a destination but a journey. As the industry continues to introduce fiercer competition and invite ERP and RDBMS heavyweights, Business Objects will innovate to fortify its market leadership. While this book focuses on the company's core BI products, Business Objects now offers much more, extending its capabilities into ETL on the back end and analytic applications on the front end. Collaboration, which some industry analysts consider a key element to the future of BI, will be added to the product line in 2003. As customers look to buy a full BI solution from one vendor, Business Objects now encompasses the full breadth of a BI infrastructure, entering into what historically has been distinct market segments.

Emerging technologies and maturing Internet standards will also help drive innovation; so will demands from customers. What are the problems that have yet to be solved, and what are the pains not yet articulated? These are questions both you and the vendor must ask repeatedly. A BusinessObjects implementation is a project that you will never finish and is one in which the best you can do is to provide a starting point for users to make more informed decisions and discover opportunities. With so much product capability, you must stay focused on the business value of business intelligence. Your challenge will be to understand how the history of business intelligence in your company influences your users' attitudes, understanding, and receptiveness towards BusinessObjects. Perhaps you are still fighting some of the battles of just having implemented a new ERP. Perhaps your initial goal is a modest one of simply weaning users from printed reports to online reports. Perhaps your company will be one of the industry innovators to which many aspire, using BusinessObjects in ways never before anticipated and directly contributing to your firm's market position and profitability. Enjoy the journey!

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