Ventana Research Releases Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data

    BEND, OR, September 14, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Today Ventana Research released its 2023 Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data, a quantified, research-based report evaluating technology providers and products. The Buyers Guide assesses 22 vendors' products using our Value Index methodology to evaluate software in seven key categories that are weighted to reflect buyers' needs based on our expertise and research. The Buyers Guide evaluates how well vendors' offerings will address organizations' requirements for analytics and data software.

The processes and technology of the analytics and data software industry continue to play an instrumental role in enabling an organization's business units and IT to optimally utilize data in both tactical and strategic ways. To accomplish this, organizations must provide technology that can access the data, generate, and apply insights from analytics, communicate the results, and support collaboration as needed to make and implement decisions.

While analytics as a modern business tool dates back more than three decades, the elements of business intelligence (BI) today have expanded well beyond query, reporting, analysis, and publishing. Not only have the capabilities expanded, but the number of vendors has proliferated as well. As organizations seek to consolidate and simplify BI, a transition to enterprise-class analytics is an essential step forward that guides our evaluation criteria in this assessment.

"Innovations and new entrants in the analytics and data software market are exciting but can be overwhelming as organizations attempt to understand which vendors best meet their needs," said David Menninger, SVP and Research Director at Ventana Research. "The Buyers Guide provides an objective and complete assessment of the vendors from both the product experience and customer experience perspectives."

This research evaluates the following vendors that offer products that address key elements of analytics and data as we define it: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Domo, GoodData, Google, IBM, Idera, Incorta, Infor, insightsoftware, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Oracle, Pyramid Analytics, Qlik, SAP, SAS, Sigma Computing, Sisense, Tableau Software, ThoughtSpot, TIBCO, and Zoho.

The Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data finds SAP first on the list with IBM in second place and Oracle in third. Companies that place in the top three of a category earn the designation of Leader. Oracle and SAP have done so in five of the seven categories; IBM in four, Qlik and Domo in two, and Sisense and Tableau in one category.

The research places vendors into one of four overall categories: Exemplary, Innovative, Assurance, or Merit. This representation classifies vendors' weighted performance overall in Product Experience and Customer Experience. The vendors were awarded the following categories:

Exemplary - Domo, IBM, Oracle, Qlik, SAP, and Tableau.
Innovative - Idera, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Pyramid Analytics, and SAS.
Assurance - GoodData, Incorta, insightsoftware, Sisense, and Zoho.
Merit - Amazon Web Services, Google, Infor, Sigma Computing, ThoughtSpot, and TIBCO.

The Ventana Research Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data is the distillation of over a year of market and product research efforts. It is an assessment of how well vendors' offerings will address organizations' requirements for analytics and data software. The index is structured to support a request for information (RFI) that could be used in the RFP process by incorporating all criteria needed to evaluate, select, utilize, and maintain relationships with technology vendors. An effective product and customer experience with a technology vendor can ensure the best long-term relationship and value achieved from a resource and financial investment.

The structure of the research reflects our understanding that the effective evaluation of vendors and products involves far more than just examining product features, potential revenue, or customers generated from a vendor's marketing and sales efforts. We believe it is important to take a comprehensive research-based approach since making the wrong choice of analytics and data technology can raise the total cost of ownership, lower the return on investment, and hamper an organization's ability to reach its potential performance. In addition, this approach can reduce the project's development and deployment time and eliminate the risk of relying on a short list of vendors that do not represent the best fit for your organization.

"The need to embrace analytics and supporting data in an enterprise is essential for every organization to take action and effectively make decisions," said Mark Smith, CEO and Chief Research Officer at Ventana Research. "The importance of an objective and comprehensive analysis of vendors and products is critical to assess existing efforts and plans for new ones that can modernize and introduce intelligence to the business and every worker. This Buyers Guide is the most effective way to prioritize technologies and ensure the best possible product and customer experience a technology vendor can provide."

The Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data is neither sponsored nor influenced by technology vendors and is conducted solely in pursuit of Ventana Research's mission to provide value to business and IT (Information Technology) through the Consulting, Advisory, Research, and Education (CARE) portfolio of services. Ventana Research's goal is to help guide organizations to optimal efficiency in their use of technology investments for business and IT. Click here to learn more and to read the Buyers Guide for Analytics and Data.

About Ventana Research

Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected market research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops, and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information, and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost, and risk.

Ventana Research provides the most comprehensive analyst and research coverage in the industry; business and IT professionals worldwide are members of our community and benefit from Ventana Research's insights, as do highly regarded media and association partners around the globe. Our views and analyses are distributed daily through blogs and social media channels including Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly known as Twitter). To learn how Ventana Research advances the maturity of organizations' use of information and technology through benchmark research, education, and advisory services, visit www.ventanaresearch.com.

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