IBM Puts Focus on Business Intelligence Acquisitions
IBM is putting a focus on acquisitions of business intelligence software providers as customers turn to analytics to help run their businesses. As reported on CRM Buyer, Over the past five years, the company has spent $14 billion on 24 business intelligence-related acquisitions. IBM's annual BI revenue now stands at $9.6 billion and, as of its most recent financial statement, is growing at a 14% annual rate.
“Three years ago, when IBM bought best-of-breed business intelligence software vendor Cognos for $5 billion, many saw the move as an attempt by Big Blue to keep pace with other large software vendors staking claims in the fast-growing BI space. At about the same time, SAP was buying Business Objects, and Oracle was snapping up financial business intelligence software provider Hyperion.
“And, if anything, the investment spree seems to be accelerating. Most recently, in November, the company completed a $1.7 billion acquisition of data warehouse appliance vendor Netezza Corp. In October, the company acquired Clarity Systems, a provider of financial reporting and analytical software, and OpenPages, a risk and compliance analytics software vendor. Two months before that, the company bought Coremetrics, a provider of Web analytics software. And before that, IBM picked up SPSS, a maker of statistical software and predictive analytics, and ILOG, a vendor of business rules and optimization software.”
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