A new report on business intelligence software, released this week by independent research firm Business Application Research Center (BARC), finds that companies should not base their software purchasing decisions on brand recognition. BARC's comprehensive quantitative analysis sought to uncover why customers bought specific BI tools. A key conclusion of the report is that most buyers purchase software based on the vendor name and a long list of features. That strategy, however, often does not deliver the desired result for BI applications that are not focused on specific industry needs. The BI Survey 7 report is based on the experiences of 1,900 end users around the world in companies with median revenues of $500 million. The survey crosses 30 different industries and provides detailed analysis of how corporations select products, use applications, and measure project success. The research center and study author Nigel Pendse collected data on 39 BI offerings and produced a detailed comparison of 16 market-leading products from vendors, including Microsoft, SAP, Microstrategy, Business Objects (now part of SAP), and Cognos (now an IBM company). While the report stops short of offering purchasing advice or identifying one product as the best, it does provide guidance on the technology, the industries served, the cost of ownership, and the power of a vendor's brand. Ultimately, brand should not factor into the purchasing decision, the report concludes. "Buy the product, not the big-name brand, because on a whole they don't deliver well," said author Pendse, who is an independent industry analyst based on London. "The best results come from the smaller, more local vendors, who have a greater commitment to the customer," Pendse told Managing Automation in an interview. According to the report, many companies favor BI applications that are delivered by their incumbent database vendor. For example, sites with Microsoft databases in-house gravitate toward Microsoft BI tools. Almost 45% of surveyed sites with a Microsoft database purchased Microsoft Analysis Services, 28.8% use Microsoft RS, and 26.9% use Excel PivotTables. It is interesting to note, however, that 24.7% of Oracle users and 26.6% of IBM database users purchased Microsoft AS. There are no predictions on how that might change in the wake of Oracle's purchase of Hyperion and IBM's acquisition of Cognos. Pendse said Microsoft consistently performed better than average in the application analysis by product and vendor, besting other big-name vendors. Overall, however, Pendse's message to buyers is to look at the performance of the product and avoid dwelling on the feature list. Companies should look at the BI applications used by others in the same industry as a starting point, he said. For example, in the automotive industry, Cubeware Cockpit is a popular package. In industrial equipment manufacturing, Alea Software — now part of Infor, courtesy of Infor's Systems Union acquisition — is used often. And arcplan is a favorite in the oil, gas, and chemical industries. Once a company develops a short list of products that are used in specific markets, Pendse advises them to "really focus on what is right for you. Does it perform well? Does the vendor provide good support?" Another pivotal concern is knowing what your company needs. "Don't have eyes that are greedier than your real needs," Pendse said. "When business users run a project, they buy what they need to implement. But when IT runs it, they get carried away with grandiose ideas and buy too much, most of which ends up as shelfware." Not only is that a waste of money, but it also complicates the implementation, he said. "A lot of our data says that if it takes more than a few months to implement, the project success goes down the tubes." For more information on the 404-page report, which is priced at $4,995, visit the Web site.