Business Intelligence Goes Mobile And Gets Personal

Query and reporting tool lets users get reports via E-mail and write back to database

By Rick Whiting (rwhiting@cmp.com)

Information Builders Inc. this week will unveil the latest release of its WebFocus business-intelligence tool. The software is expected to sport new mobile-computing features, enhanced development tools, and improved customization and personalization.

WebFocus is already in use at about 2,000 companies, the vendor says. Administaff Inc., a Kingwood, Texas, supplier of outsourced personnel management and human-resource services, has been using the software for more than two years to give clients secure access to personnel-related reports on payroll, benefits, and even employee birthdays via the Internet. "WebFocus allows our clients to access and run the reports on a 24-by-7 basis," says applications manager John Sheridan. He says enhancements to WebFocus' development tools, including support for Java-servlet technology, should help Administaff develop new reports for customers more efficiently.

The new release can be deployed on mobile-computing devices, making it possible for users to receive via E-mail business-intelligence reports on anything from customer sales histories to company finances. Before calling on a customer, for example, a sales rep can request data on that customer's purchases or service calls.

Although many query and reporting tools are read-only, the new release of WebFocus provides write-back functions that let users update a database. Users will be able to perform "what if" analyses and save the results. The new release is available now. Its pricing starts at $10,000.

Information Builders is competing in a crowded market dominated by vendors such as Business Objects and Cognos. Earlier this year, Information Builders redefined itself as a business-intelligence vendor, spinning its integration middleware into a subsidiary and focusing on its WebFocus query and reporting software.