October 16, 2000

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Business Intelligence Goes Wireless

Information builders partners with research in motion to offer remote access via E-mail

By Aisha M. Williams

More on wireless email:

Cellular Data Services: The Third Generation (10/9/00) Wireless E-Mail Lets Users Stay Up-To-Date (9/4/00) TechWeb: How Wireless Is Your Business? (10/11/00)

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nytime, anywhere access to core business data is becoming a top priority for many businesses. To help, business-intelligence vendors, whose products let companies analyze the mounds of sales, customer, and other data they've collected, are adding wireless capabilities to their software.

Information Builders Inc. last week launched Tell Me By E-mail, which lets customers access key data via cell phones, personal digital assistants, and other handhelds. The company also says it has partnered with Research In Motion Ltd. to develop more advanced apps that work specifically with RIM's BlackBerry pagers.

Hummingbird Ltd. next week will ship Business Intelligence Suite 7.0, which will let customers export business information to Palm VII Quicksheet applications, which are similar to Excel spreadsheets.

Allstate Insurance Co. is testing Tell Me By E-mail so that traveling executives can access data more easily. Currently, executives can use wireless devices to view information on Allstate's intranet, but it's cumbersome, says Mary Fontaine, director of enterprise reporting and senior manager. "An E-mail attachment is a very convenient way to communicate," she says.

Available now, Tell Me By E-mail is an extension of Information Builders' Web Focus business-intelligence suite. With Tell Me By E-mail, users can specify the data they want to receive, the device they want to receive it on, and how often they want to receive it. The data is pushed to the user as an

E-mail template with a brief message. The user can then click on the template to see more detailed information.

Other business-intelligence vendors are moving into the wireless market. MicroStrategy Inc. paved the way early on with its Broadcaster suite. Cognos Inc. recently spent $15 million to buy NoticeCast Software Ltd., a wireless company in the United Kingdom, so its software can push data to handhelds.

Keith Gile, a senior analyst at Giga Information Group, says many business-intelligence vendors are just dabbling in wireless but haven't taken it further. He says Information Builders' interactive feature has upped the ante. "They're setting up a two-way street," he says. "You can look at the E-mail and send it back to the server; it will interpret the information and even open up a new set of applications."

But Michael Schiff, an analyst at Current Analysis, says Information Builders' latest move isn't new. "Other vendors such as Business Objects, Hyperion, Informatica, Oracle, and SAS Institute have similar wireless capabilities," he says, "either through their own efforts or through partnerships with wireless product and services vendors."

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