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August 7, 2013
Dresner Advisory Services, LLC
2013 Edition
Wisdom of Crowds ®
Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
Licensed to Actuate
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
http://www.dresneradvisory.com Copyright 2013 – Dresner Advisory Services, LLC
2
Disclaimer:
This report should be used for informational purposes only. Vendor and product selections should be made based on
multiple information sources, face-to-face meetings, customer reference checking, product demonstrations and
proof-of-concept applications.
The information contained in all Wisdom of Crowds ® Market Study Reports reflects the opinions expressed in the
online responses of individuals who chose to respond to our online questionnaire, and does not represent a scientific
sampling of any kind. Dresner Advisory Services, LLC shall not be liable for the content of Reports, study results, or for
any damages incurred or alleged to be incurred by any of the companies included in the Reports as a result of its
content.
Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden.
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
http://www.dresneradvisory.com Copyright 2013 – Dresner Advisory Services, LLC
3
Definitions
Business Intelligence Defined Business intelligence (BI) is “knowledge gained through the access and analysis of business information.
Business Intelligence tools and technologies include query and reporting, OLAP (on-line analytical processing), Data
Mining and advanced analytics, end-user tools for ad hoc query and analysis” and “dashboards for performance
monitoring”.
Howard Dresner, The Performance Management Revolution: Business Results Through Insight and Action (John Wiley
& Sons, 2007)
Embedded Business Intelligence Defined Embedded Business Intelligence is the technological capability to include BI features and functions as an inherent part
of another application.
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
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Introduction This year we celebrate the sixth anniversary of Dresner Advisory Services! Our thanks to all of you that
have been with us along the way – encouraging and challenging us!
Since our founding in 2007, we have strived to offer a fresh, real-world and alternative perspective on
the Business Intelligence (BI) market. We hope that you agree that we have not only succeeded in doing
so, but have continued to “raise the bar” - offering increasingly compelling research and greater value
with each successive year.
We published our first Wisdom of Crowds® Business Intelligence Market Study in 2010. At that time our
primary goal was to reach out to Business Intelligence users focusing on evaluating BI vendors and
products. Our first research report was 68 pages in length, with 47 charts, and ranking 15 vendors. We
have continued to publish the Wisdom of Crowds BI Market Study each year since - expanding its scope
and staying true to our goal of providing fresh perspective. This year's Buyers’ Guide Edition was 124
pages with over 95 charts and tables.
In 2010 we published our first thematic research study - Mobile Business Intelligence. Since then, we
have published three more - expanding to include the broader Mobile Computing topic.
Last year we received the registered trademark designation for "Wisdom of Crowds®". Moving forward,
all research will be published under this brand. We also added two new thematic research reports to the
family: Cloud BI and Collaborative BI.
This year we introduce the inaugural Embedded Business Intelligence report – focusing upon the
requirement to make BI capabilities pervasive by including them as a part of other applications. Like our
other thematic research reports, Embedded BI explores user perceptions and intentions and includes
vendor rankings and a buyers’ guide, making it a valuable tool for anyone considering investing in
embedded BI products and services.
In closing, we’re very excited about both the market and our ability to continue to add substantial
perspective and value to it!
Thanks for your support!
Best,
Howard Dresner Chief Research Officer Dresner Advisory Services
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
http://www.dresneradvisory.com Copyright 2013 – Dresner Advisory Services, LLC
5
Contents Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Business Intelligence Defined ................................................................................................................... 3
Embedded Business Intelligence Defined ................................................................................................. 3
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Benefits of the Study ..................................................................................................................................... 8
A Consumer Guide .................................................................................................................................... 8
A Supplier Tool .......................................................................................................................................... 8
External Awareness ............................................................................................................................... 8
Internal Planning ................................................................................................................................... 8
About Howard Dresner and Dresner Advisory Services ............................................................................... 9
Survey Method and Data Collection ........................................................................................................... 10
Data Collection ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 1 - Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013 ....................................................................................... 10
Data Quality ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 12
Study Demographics ................................................................................................................................... 12
Geography ............................................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 2 - Geographic Distribution ...................................................................................................... 13
Functions ................................................................................................................................................. 14
Figure 3 - Functions Represented ....................................................................................................... 14
Vertical Industries ................................................................................................................................... 15
Figure 4 - Vertical Industries ............................................................................................................... 15
Organization Size .................................................................................................................................... 16
Figure 5 – Organization Size ................................................................................................................ 16
Analysis & Trends: Business Intelligence Users .......................................................................................... 18
Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ..................................................................................... 18
Figure 6 - Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence ............................................. 18
Figure 7 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................................. 19
Figure 8 - Importance of Embedded BI by Geography........................................................................ 20
Figure 9 - Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry ................................................ 21
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Figure 10 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Function ........................................... 22
Figure 11 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Organization Size ............................ 23
Figure 12 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Targeted Users of BI ........................ 24
Figure 13 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Driving Function .............................. 25
Figure 14 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by BI Objectives ................................... 26
Figure 15 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Penetration of BI Users ................... 27
Figure 16 Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use ....................................................... 28
Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture ....................................................................................... 29
Figure 17 - Prioritized Architecture for Embedded BI ......................................................................... 29
Figure 18 - Embedded Architecture by Organization Size .................................................................. 30
Figure 19 - Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry .............................................................. 31
Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Requirements ....................................................................... 32
Figure 20 – Embedded Business Intelligence Capability Priorities ..................................................... 32
Figure 21 - Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry...................................................................... 33
Figure 22 – Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size ...................................................... 34
Targeted Applications for Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................................... 35
Figure 23 – Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence ........................................... 35
Figure 24 - Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function ........................................................... 36
Figure 25 - Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size ......................................... 37
Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence .................................................................. 38
Figure 26 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence .......................... 38
Figure 27 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography ................................. 39
Figure 28 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function ....................................................... 40
Figure 29 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry ............................................. 41
Figure 30 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size ......................................... 42
Industry and Vendor Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 44
Figure 31 - Industry Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence ................................................ 44
Figure 32 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture 2013 - 2015 ............ 45
Table 1 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture . 46
Figure 33 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Features 2013 - 2015 .................. 47
Table 2 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Features ....... 48
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
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Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings ................................................................................... 49
Figure 34 - Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings ............................................................. 50
Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide ......................................................................................... 51
Table 3 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Architecture ............................................ 51
Table 4 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Capabilities .............................................. 52
Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................... 53
Appendix: Embedded Business Intelligence Study Survey Instrument ...................................................... 55
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
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Benefits of the Study The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study provides a
wealth of information and analysis – offering value to both consumers and producers of
Business Intelligence technology and services.
A Consumer Guide
As an objective source of industry research, consumers use the Wisdom of Crowds ®
Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study to understand how their peers are
leveraging and investing in Business Intelligence and related technologies.
Using our unique vendor performance measurement system, users glean key insights
into Cloud BI software supplier performance, enabling:
Comparisons of current vendor performance to industry norms
Identification and selection of new vendors
A Supplier Tool
Vendor Licensees use the Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence
Market Study in several important ways:
External Awareness
Build awareness for the Business Intelligence market and supplier brand,
citing Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
trends and vendor performance
Create lead and demand-generation for supplier offerings through association
with Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
brand, findings, webinars, etc.
Internal Planning
Refine internal product plans and align with market priorities and realities as
identified in Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market
Study
Better understand customer priorities, concerns and issues
Identify competitive pressures and opportunities
2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
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About Howard Dresner and Dresner Advisory Services The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study was
conceived, designed and executed by Dresner Advisory Services, LLC - an independent
advisory firm - and Howard Dresner, its President, Founder and Chief Research Officer.
Howard Dresner is one of the foremost thought leaders in Business Intelligence and
Performance Management, having coined the term “Business Intelligence” in 1989. He
has published two books on the subject, The Performance
Management Revolution – Business Results through Insight
and Action (John Wiley & Sons – Nov. 2007) and Profiles in
Performance – Business Intelligence Journeys and the
Roadmap for Change (John Wiley & Sons – Nov. 2009). He
lectures at forums around the globe and is regularly cited by the
business and trade press.
Prior to Dresner Advisory Services, Howard served as Chief
Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions and was a Research Fellow at Gartner, where he
led its Business Intelligence research practice for 13 years.
Howard has conducted and directed numerous in-depth primary research studies over
the course of the past two decades and is an expert in analyzing these markets.
Through the Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence market research reports,
Howard engages with a global community to redefine how research is created and
shared. Landmark research reports include:
- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market Study
- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Collaborative Business Intelligence Market Study
- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Cloud Business Intelligence Market Study
- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
- The Wisdom of Crowds ® Mobile Computing/ Mobile Business Intelligence Market
Study.
Howard (www.twitter.com/howarddresner) conducts a weekly Twitter “tweetchat” on
Fridays at 1PM ET. The hashtag is #BIWisdom. During these live events the BIWisdom
“tribe” discusses a wide range of Business Intelligence topics.
More information about Dresner Advisory Services can be found at
www.dresneradvisory.com.
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Survey Method and Data Collection As with all of our Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market Studies, we
constructed a survey instrument to collect data and used social media and crowd-
sourcing techniques to recruit participants.
We expanded data collection to include our own research community of roughly 2,000
organizations as well as vendors’ customer communities.
Data Collection
The volume of data collected continues to expand each year. For 2013, we collected
1,182 completed surveys – exceeding our goal of 1,100 with 40% growth over 2012
(Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013
Data Quality
All respondent entries were carefully scrutinized and verified to ensure that only
qualified participants are included in the study.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2010 2011 2012 2013
Survey Respondents 2010 - 2013
Target
Actual
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Executive
Summary
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Executive Summary Embedded Business Intelligence has resonated well with our community of
respondents with a majority indicating it’s either “critical”, “very important” or
“important”.
“Back office” functions (e.g., Supply chain, IT, Operations) rate the importance of
Embedded BI higher than their “front office” counterparts.
Those seeking to automate external constituents (customers, suppliers) were much
more favorably inclined towards Embedded BI.
Although focused upon “back office” functions, organizations’ intent is to use
Embedded BI to increase competitive advantage, enhance customer service and
grow revenues as opposed to only improving “operational efficiency”.
Recent adopters of Business Intelligence tools and technologies were more likely to
give Embedded BI a higher priority than those that are well established.
Technical approaches for inclusion of BI functionality within other applications favors
a more practical, modern and web-centered method (e.g., iframe, RESTful).
Topping the list of application targets for Embedded BI are: Web portals, Financial
management applications (e.g., treasury, procurement, compliance) and ERP (e.g.,
order processing, inventory).
Internal resources (e.g., central & departmental IT and business analysts) are far
more likely to provide the integration services to embed BI into applications than
third parties (e.g., consultants, software vendors).
Industry support for both Embedded BI architecture and features is well aligned with
user requirements – providing a number of potential options for organizations to
choose from – possibly including BI vendor products already in use.
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Study Demographics As with last year, we’ve seen a rich cross-section of data across geographies, functions,
organization size, and vertical industries. We believe that, unlike other industry
research, this supports a more representative sample and better indicator of true market
dynamics. Cross-tab analyses have been constructed using these demographics to
identify and illustrate important industry trends.
Geography
As in previous years, we’ve been able to attract survey respondents from a wide array
of geographies – including 25% from EMEA (35 countries) and 11% from APAC (15
countries). Although North America represents the largest group, it is in itself diverse –
representing five Canadian provinces, 43 US states and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico (Figure 2).
Figure 2 - Geographic Distribution
59%
25%
11%
4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
North America Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia/Pacific Latin America
Geographic Distribution
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Functions
For 2013, we expanded the functions that we track – adding the BI Competency Center
(BICC) and splitting Sales and Marketing into their respective functions. While the IT
Department represents the largest single group of respondents, representing 35% of the
sample, executive management (18%) and the BICC (17%) are well represented
(Figure 3).
This distribution across functions has enabled us to develop analyses comparing and
contrasting the plans and priorities of the different departments within organizations.
Figure 3 - Functions Represented
36%
19% 17%
6% 5% 4% 4% 3% 3%
1% 1% 0% 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Functions Represented
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Vertical Industries
For 2013, vertical industry distribution was similar to 2012– with solid participation from
Technology, Consulting, Financial Services, Health Care, and Manufacturing. We
encourage the participation of consultants – who oftentimes have deeper industry
knowledge than their customer counterparts. This also yields insight into the partner
ecosystem for BI vendors (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Vertical Industries
24%
15%
12%
10% 9%
7% 6%
5% 5%
4% 3%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Vertical Industries
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Organization Size
We saw strong participation from a balanced mix of small, medium and large
organizations (Figure 5). Similar to 2012, this year the largest of organizations
represented 24% of the sample, mid-sized organizations 45% and the smallest of
organizations 31%. As with previous years, we have found important differences by
organization size.
Figure 5 – Organization Size
31%
27%
7%
10%
7%
18%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000
Organization Size
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Analysis &
Trends
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Analysis & Trends: Business Intelligence Users
Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence
Although Business Intelligence remains dominated by more traditional approaches and
technologies, Embedded BI scored high on the list of priorities, with more than half of
respondents indicating it is “critical” or “very important” to them (Figure 6). This places
Embedded BI in the top half of our 19 technology/initiatives related to Business
Intelligence – higher than Big Data, Social media analysis, etc.
Figure 6 - Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Open Source Software
Complex Event Processing (CEP)
Social media Analysis (SocialBI)
Text Analytics
Big Data (e.g., Hadoop)
Ability to write to transactional applications
Software-as-a-Service and "Cloud" Computing
Collaborative Support for Group-based Analysis
Search-based interface
In-memory analysis
"Embedded" BI (contained within an application,…
Mobile Device Support
Data Mining, Advanced Algorithms, Predictive
Data Discovery
Integration with Operational Processes
Data Warehousing
Advanced visualization
End user "self service"
Dashboards
Technologies & Initiatives Strategic to Business Intelligence
Critical Very Important Important Somewhat Important Not Important
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Embedded Business Intelligence has resonated with our community of respondents with
a majority indicating it’s either “critical”, “very important” or “important” (Figure 7).
This sentiment has been echoed in conversations with many user organizations seeking
to make Business Intelligence pervasive and to enable and improve decision-making at
all levels within the organization – especially at an operational level.
Figure 7 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Critical Very Important Important SomewhatImportant
Not Important
Importance of Embedded BI
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As with many new and emerging technology trends, North American organizations tend
to be among the earliest of adopters (Figure 8). Although North American organizations
comprise the greatest number of “critical” responses, Latin America and Asia Pacific
scored higher on a “weighted mean” basis. More EMEA organizations ranked
Embedded BI as “Not important” versus other geographies.
Figure 8 - Importance of Embedded BI by Geography
2.80
2.90
3.00
3.10
3.20
3.30
3.40
3.50
3.60
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
North America Europe, MiddleEast, & Africa
Latin America Asia Pacific
Importance of Embedded BI by Geography
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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Industries indicating greater importance of Embedded BI and – therefore - a desire to
deliver pervasive BI include: Financial Services, Telecommunications, Insurance and
Education. Those indicating the lowest importance include Retail & Wholesale,
Manufacturing, Health care and Transportation (Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance of Embedded BI by Selected Vertical Industry
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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22
From a departmental perspective, we find that “back office” functions (e.g., Supply
chain, IT, Operations) rate the importance of Embedded BI higher than their “front
office” counterparts (Figure 10). This aligns with our view that primary targets for
embedded BI are operational in nature. In other words, there is a desire to deliver
decision-making to tactical users who are closer to core business processes.
Figure 10 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Function
3.10
3.20
3.30
3.40
3.50
3.60
3.70
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance of Embedded BI by Select Function
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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As with other studies, we observe a “U-shaped” curve of interest for Embedded BI with
the largest and smallest of organizations assigning greater importance than mid-sized
ones (Figure 11). This is typical of many new technologies or initiatives where smaller,
more agile organizations use it to drive competitive advantage while larger
organizations add it to strategic initiatives in an effort to improve efficiency,
effectiveness, etc.
Figure 11 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Organization Size
2.00
2.20
2.40
2.60
2.80
3.00
3.20
3.40
3.60
1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than10,000
Importance of Embedded BI by Organization Size
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Those organizations seeking to deliver Business Intelligence to internal users were less
inclined towards an embedded approach. However, those seeking to automate external
constituents (customers, suppliers) were much more favorably inclined towards
Embedded BI (Figure 12). This makes sense as organizations strive to provide a
seamless experience for customers and suppliers – including BI as a part of that
interaction.
Figure 12 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Targeted Users of BI
2.90
3.00
3.10
3.20
3.30
3.40
3.50
3.60
3.70
3.80
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance of Embedded BI by Targeted Users
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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Supporting the previous analysis on page 22, operational roles which are driving BI tend
to favor embedding versus “front office” roles (Figure 13). By putting BI in context of
operational applications, tactical end users can incrementally improve performance on a
transactional level, which can be significant when aggregated at the corporate level.
Figure 13 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Driving Function
3.10
3.20
3.30
3.40
3.50
3.60
3.70
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance of Embedded BI by Driving Function
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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We were interested to find that while Embedded BI is more important to “back office”
functions, their intent is to increase competitive advantage, enhance customer service
and grow revenues as opposed to only improving operational efficiency (Figure 14).
This strongly suggests that Embedded BI should be considered a strategic priority for
operational applications.
Figure 14 – Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by BI Objectives
3.25
3.30
3.35
3.40
3.45
3.50
3.55
3.60
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance of Embedded BI by Objective
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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An interesting finding is that organizations with the greatest penetration of Business
Intelligence usage ascribe a higher priority and importance to Embedded BI than those
with lower density of usage (Figure 15). Those with the highest penetration also tend to
report the greatest success with Business Intelligence and tend to be more strategic in
its use.
Figure 15 - Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence by Penetration of BI Users
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Under 10% 11 - 20% 21 - 40% 41 - 60% 61 - 80% 81% ormore
Importance of Embedded BI by Penetration of Users
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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It is notable that more recent adopters of Business Intelligence tools and technologies
were more likely to give Embedded BI a higher priority than those that are well
established (Figure 16). While there may be a number of explanations for this
phenomenon, our assumption is that recent adopters are more open to recent
technological advancements and have a less rigid view of BI deployment options.
Figure 16 Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use
2.90
2.95
3.00
3.05
3.10
3.15
3.20
3.25
3.30
3.35
3.40
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Less than 1year
1 - 2 years 3 - 5 years 6 - 10 years More than10 years
Importance of Embedded BI by Length of BI Tool Use
Not Important
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture
Technical approaches for inclusion of BI functionality within other applications favor
more practical, modern and web-centered methods (e.g., iframe, RESTful). These are
followed by more programmatic approaches requiring development resources and 3GL
programming environments (e.g., Java API). And, finally, the least preferred methods
include widgets and gadgets (Figure 17).
Figure 17 - Prioritized Architecture for Embedded BI
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Prioritized Architecture for Embedded BI
Unimportant
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Mean
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Although prioritization of embedded architectural approaches is fairly consistent across
different organization sizes, there are a few key differences (Figure 18). For example,
smaller organizations show a greater interest in Google Gadgets, Desktop widgets and
Web Services than their larger counterparts. Larger organizations prefer Frameworks,
.NET API and Portlets over smaller ones. In large part, this maps to existing
investments that organizations have already made in development tools, packaged
applications, etc.
Figure 18 - Embedded Architecture by Organization Size
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Embedded Architecture by Organization Size
1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000
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Most vertical industries were fairly consistent in their preference for architectural
approaches for embedding BI capabilities (Figure 19). However, in particular, the
Technology industry was the most favorably inclined towards the use of HTML/iframe
and the least inclined towards Portlets and Frameworks. Government assigned a higher
priority to JavaScript than all other verticals.
Figure 19 - Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00Google Gadgets
COM
Desktop widgets
Portlets
Frameworks (Force.com,Sharepoint)
.NET API
Java API
Java_Script API
Web Services (RESTful, Soap)
HTML/ iframe
Embedded BI Architecture by Selected Industry
Technology Financial Services Health Care Education
Government Retail & Wholesale Insurance
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Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Requirements
The top feature for Embedded Business Intelligence is “Interact with objects”, followed
by Single-sign-on – an essential element to create a seamless experience for users
(Figure 20). Other key user features include Refresh objects/prompts, Open/view
objects and Browse/select from catalog of objects. Although feature requirements were
less passive than simple viewing, more advance features such as “mashups” and
“predictive analytics” were a relatively low priority.
Figure 20 – Embedded Business Intelligence Capability Priorities
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90%
100%
Embedded Business Intelligence Feature Priorities
Unimportant
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Rating Average
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Although there is general agreement for basic functionality across vertical industries,
Technology and Insurance have the most advanced requirements for Embedded BI
features – including Re-skinning and analytical algorithms (Figure 21). In contrast,
Education and Retail appear to have more modest requirements. In our opinion,
Embedded Business Intelligence can be used by these organizations as a means of
deepening relationships with customers and other “stakeholders”.
Figure 21 - Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry
0.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.50
Re-skinning/customizinginterface
Apply analyticalalgorithms, mining,
predictive
Modify/create objects
Browse/select fromcatalog of objects
Save & publish objectsOpen/view objects
Refresh objects/prompts
Single sign-on/securityintegration
Interact with objects(navigate, filter, drill)
Embedded BI Features by Vertical Industry
Technology Financial Services Health Care Education
Government Retail & Wholesale Insurance
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As noted earlier, the smallest and largest of organizations assign the highest priority to
Embedded BI compared to mid-sized ones. Likewise, they are more ambitious and are
more likely to fully exploit a range of embedded features (Figure 22). That said, smaller
organizations appear even more aggressive than their larger counterparts – especially
concerning “re-skinning” and “mashups”.
Figure 22 – Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
Re-skinning/customizinginterface
Introduce user-supplieddata for "mashups"
Modify/create objects
Apply analyticalalgorithms, mining,
predictive
Save & publish objects
Browse/select fromcatalog of objects
Open/view objects
Refresh objects/prompts
Single sign-on/securityintegration
Interact with objects(navigate, filter, drill)
Embedded BI Feature Priorities by Organization Size
1-1000 1001-5000 5000 +
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Targeted Applications for Embedded Business Intelligence
Topping the list of application targets for Embedded BI are: Web portals, Financial
management applications (e.g., treasury, procurement, compliance) and ERP (e.g.,
order processing, inventory). Although Web portal integration is a fairly general
requirement, the others are more operational in nature and consistent with our other
findings (Figure 23).
Figure 23 – Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence
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Targeted Applications for Embedding Business Intelligence
Unimportant
Somewhat Important
Important
Very Important
Critical
Rating Average
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The importance of targeted applications tends to vary by the department of the person
responding to the question. For example, supply chain managers give a higher priority
to embedding BI in supply chain and ERP applications, while sales & marketing
management focus upon sales and marketing applications (Figure 24). That said, there
is general agreement across all functions that financial management and ERP
applications are a high priority.
Figure 24 - Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function
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2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
Target Applications for Embedded BI by Function
Finance Information Technology (IT) Marketing
Operations Sales Supply Chain
Average
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Confirming our current view, smaller organizations tend to focus upon “front office”
applications for Embedded BI (e.g., Salesforce management applications, Marketing
automation applications) while larger organizations focus more upon “back office” (ERP
applications, Financial management applications) (Figure 25).
Figure 25 - Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size
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1.00
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2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
Targeted Applications for Embedded BI by Organization Size
1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000
5,001 - 10,000 More than 10,000 Average
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Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence
When we first asked who would provide the integration services to embed BI into
applications, we expected third parties (e.g., consultants, software vendors) to figure
more prominently. However, internal resources (e.g., central & departmental IT and
business analysts) are far more likely to be relied upon for this work (Figure 26).
Figure 26 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence
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4.00
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded Business Intelligence
Unlikely
Possibly
Probably
Definitely
Rating Average
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Geography plays an important role in determining who will embed Business Intelligence
capabilities within other applications (Figure 27). Specifically, North American
organizations prefer internal resources (e.g., departmental IT) to do the work. In
contrast, APAC and EMEA prefer external resources (e.g., consultants, software
vendors).
Figure 27 – Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography
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0.50
1.00
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2.00
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3.00
3.50
Central ITDepartment
Third partyconsultant
Applicationsoftware vendor
Departmental IT BI Softwarevendor
Business Analyst
Prioritized Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Geography
North America Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia/Pacific
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From a functional perspective, most indicated a preference for the Central IT department to do
the work of embedding Business Intelligence capabilities (Figure 28). In contrast, Departmental
IT and Business Analyst integration resources were preferred by Human Resources, Supply
chain and Finance functions – which have a history of using alternatives to Central IT-delivered
solutions.
Figure 28 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function
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1.00
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2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
BusinessIntelligenceCompetency
Finance HumanResources
InformationTechnology
(IT)
Marketing Operations Sales Supply Chain
Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Function
Application software vendor Third party consultant BI Software vendor
Business Analyst Departmental IT Central IT Department
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While all industries appear to favor Central IT for integration and embedding of BI capabilities,
several indicated a secondary preference for Departmental IT. These include Healthcare,
Government, Manufacturing, Retail & Wholesale (Figure 29). Business Analysts were a
secondary choice for Technology and Insurance industries. Financial Services was the only
industry to prefer Third party consultants as a secondary integration resource.
Figure 29 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry
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2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Select Industry
Application software vendor Departmental IT BI Software vendor
Business Analyst Third party consultant Central IT Department
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All sizes of organizations preferred a Central IT function to carry out the work of embedded BI
functionality into other applications (Figure 30). Smaller organizations also relied upon third
party resources (BI and Application software vendors) more so than their larger counterparts. In
addition, Departmental IT becomes more prominent, as an integration resource, in relation to
organization size.
Figure 30 - Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
1-100 101 - 1,000 1,001 - 2,000 2,001 - 5,000 5,001 - 10,000 More than10,000
Integration Resources for Embedded BI by Organization Size
Application software vendor Third party consultant BI Software vendor
Business Analyst Departmental IT Central IT Department
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Industry and
Vendor
Analysis
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Industry and Vendor Analysis We reached out to the vendor community and asked questions about their capabilities
and plans for Embedded BI, including its perceived importance to their strategies.
What we found is typical of most nascent market dynamics. While the greatest majority
of vendors believe that Embedded BI is “critically important” (51%), a smaller number of
vendors remain less committed (Figure 31).
Figure 31 - Industry Importance of Embedded Business Intelligence
51%
31%
18%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Critically important Very important Somewhat Important
Industry Importance of Embedded BI
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Today, a majority of vendors support the most popular architectural options for
embedding BI (e.g., iframe, RESTful). Industry support for additional architectural
options is expected to expand, including JavaScript and Java APIs, Frameworks and
Portlets by 2016 (Figure 32). However, we expect to see only limited industry support
for .NET, Google Gadgets, Desktop widgets and COM.
Figure 32 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Architecture 2013 - 2015
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Industry Support for Embedded BI Architecture
No Plans
24 Months
12 Months
Available Today
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User and industry alignment of architectural priorities for Embedded BI is unusually
good (Table 1). This removes what might otherwise have been a significant barrier, and
should help to facilitate the proliferation of embedded Business Intelligence capabilities
more quickly.
Table 1 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence
Architecture
User Requirement Vendor Capabilities
HTML/ iframe HTML/ iframe
Web Services (RESTful, Soap) Web Services (RESTful, Soap)
Java_Script API Java_Script API
Java API Java API
Frameworks (Force.com, Sharepoint)
Frameworks (Force.com, Sharepoint)
.NET API Portlets
Portlets .NET API
Desktop widgets Google Gadgets
COM Desktop widgets
Google Gadgets COM
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As with industry support for architecture, a majority of vendors today support all of the
Embedded BI features that we’ve documented (Figure 33). Basic capabilities are
supported by nearly 100% of vendors while more esoteric features – such as “mashups”
are less well supported. With that in mind, organizations seeking to embed BI
functionality today will find a number of viable alternatives – possibly including vendors
whose products may already be in use.
Figure 33 - Industry Support for Embedded Business Intelligence Features 2013 - 2015
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Industry Support for Embedded Features 2013 - 2015
No Plans
24 Months
12 Months
Available Today
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User requirements and current vendor capabilities are aligned for most features – including interacting with objects, open/view objects, and refresh objects/prompts (Table 2). Users place a higher priority upon single sign-on and Save & publish objects than vendors. Vendors place more importance upon Browse/select from catalog of options than users.
Table 2 - User Requirements vs. Industry Support: Embedded Business Intelligence Features
User Requirement Vendor Capabilities
Interact with objects (navigate, filter, drill)
Interact with objects (navigate, filter, drill)
Single sign-on/security integration Browse/select from catalog of objects
Open/view objects Open/view objects
Refresh objects/prompts Refresh objects/prompts
Save & publish objects Single sign-on/security integration
Browse/select from catalog of objects
Re-skinning/customizing interface
Modify/create objects Save & publish objects
Apply analytical algorithms, mining, predictive
Modify/create objects
Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"
Apply analytical algorithms, mining, predictive
Re-skinning/customizing interface Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"
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Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings
In rating the vendors, we considered Embedded BI features/capabilities and Embedded
architecture. A minimum score of 10/20 (50%) was required to be ranked. As a result,
out of 23 vendors rated in the 2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Business Intelligence Market
Study, a subset of 21 have been ranked for Embedded BI.
Vendors with a score of 80% (or better) include (in alphabetical order): Actuate,
Dundas, IBM, Information Builders, Jedox, LogiAnalytics, MicroStrategy, Pentaho, SAP,
SAS and Yellowfin (Figure 34).
Additional details surrounding Embedded BI vendor capabilities can be found in the
following Buyers’ Guide section (pages 51 – 52).
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Figure 34 - Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Actuate
Birst
Dimensional Insight
Dundas
IBM
iDashboards
Infor
Information Builders
Jaspersoft
Jedox
LogiAnalyticsMicroStrategy
Oracle
Panopticon
Pentaho
QlikTech
SAP
SAS
Tableau
TIBCO Spotfire
Yellowfin
Embedded Business Intelligence Vendor Ratings
TOTAL PLATFORM TOTAL FEATURE TOTAL EMBEDDED SCORE
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Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide In the following two pages, we detail current vendor Embedded BI functionality, based on our 20 criteria
surrounding architecture (Table 3) and features (Table 4).
Table 3 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Architecture
Vendor A
ctu
ate
Co
rp
Bir
st
Dim
en
sio
na
l In
sig
ht
Du
nd
as D
ata
V
isu
aliz
atio
n,
Inc.
IBM
iDa
sh
bo
ard
s
Info
r
Info
rma
tio
n B
uild
ers
In
c.
Ja
sp
ers
oft
C
orp
ora
tio
n
Je
do
x A
G
Lo
giX
ML
, In
c.
Mic
roS
tra
teg
y,
Inc
Ora
cle
Pa
no
ptico
n
So
ftw
are
P
en
tah
o
Qlik
Te
ch
SA
P
SA
S
Ta
ble
au
So
ftw
are
TIB
CO
So
ftw
are
In
c.
Ye
llow
fin
HTML/ iframe X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Web Services (RESTful, Soap)
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Google Gadgets X X X X X X X
Desktop widgets X X X X X X
Portlets X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Java_Script API X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Java API X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
.NET API X X X X X X X X X X X
COM X X X X X X
Frameworks X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
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Table 4 - Embedded Business Intelligence Buyers’ Guide: Capabilities
Vendor
Actu
ate
Co
rp
Bir
st
Dim
en
sio
na
l In
sig
ht
Du
nd
as D
ata
V
isu
aliz
atio
n,
Inc.
IBM
iDa
sh
bo
ard
s
Info
r
Info
rma
tio
n B
uild
ers
In
c.
Ja
sp
ers
oft
C
orp
ora
tio
n
Je
do
x A
G
Lo
giX
ML
, In
c.
Mic
roS
tra
teg
y,
Inc
Ora
cle
Pa
no
ptico
n
So
ftw
are
P
en
tah
o
Qlik
Te
ch
SA
P
SA
S
Ta
ble
au
So
ftw
are
TIB
CO
So
ftw
are
In
c.
Ye
llow
fin
Browse/select from catalog of objects
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Open/view objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Interact with objects (navigate, filter, drill)
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Refresh objects/prompts
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Modify/create objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Save & publish objects X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Apply analytical algorithms, mining, predictive
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Introduce user-supplied data for "mashups"
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Single sign-on/security integration
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Re-skinning/customizing interface
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
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Glossary An application programming interface (API) specifies how some software components should
interact with each other. In practice, most often an API is a library that includes specifications for
routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. An API specification can take many
forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX, vendor documentation such as the
Microsoft Windows API, the libraries of a programming language, e.g., Standard Template
Library in C++ or Java API. An API differs from an application binary interface (ABI) in that an
API is source code based while an ABI is a binary interface. For instance POSIX is an API,
while the Linux Standard Base is an ABI. *
Component Object Model (COM) is a binary-interface standard for software components
introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable inter-process communication and dynamic
object creation in a large range of programming languages. COM is the basis for several other
Microsoft technologies and frameworks, including OLE, OLE Automation, ActiveX, COM+,
DCOM, the Windows shell, DirectX, and Windows Runtime. *
Google Gadgets are dynamic web content that can be embedded on a web page. They can be
added to and interact strongly with Google's iGoogle personalized home page (although this will
be discontinued in November 2013) and the Google Desktop (discontinued in September 2011)
application, as well as Google Wave (also no longer supported by Google). Webmasters can
add and customize a gadget to their own business or personal web site, a process called
"syndication." Gadgets are developed by Google and third-party developers using the Google
Gadgets API, using basic web technologies such as XML and JavaScript. *
The HTML <iframe> Element (or HTML inline frame element) represents a nested browsing
context, effectively embedding another HTML page into the current page. In HTML 4.01, a
document may contain a head and a body or a head and a frame-set, but not both a body and a
frame-set. However, an <iframe> can be used within a normal document body. Each browsing
context has its own session history and active document. The browsing context that contains
the embedded content is called the parent browsing context. The top-level browsing context
(which has no parent) is typically the browser window. (Source: Mozilla Developer Network)
JavaScript (JS) is an interpreted computer programming language. It was originally
implemented as part of web browsers so that client-side scripts could interact with the user,
control the browser, communicate asynchronously, and alter the document content that was
displayed. More recently, however, it has become common in both game development and the
creation of desktop applications. *
A mashup, in web development, is a web page, or web application, that uses and combines
data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. The term
implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open application programming interfaces (API)
and data sources to produce enriched results that were not necessarily the original reason for
producing the raw source data. *
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The main characteristics of a mashup are combination, visualization, and aggregation. It is
important to make existing data more useful, for personal and professional use. To be able to
permanently access the data of other services, mashups are generally client applications or
hosted online. *
The .NET Framework is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on
Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and provides language interoperability (each
language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages.
Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software environment (as contrasted to
hardware environment), known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual
machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception
handling. The class library and the CLR together constitute the .NET Framework. *
Portlets are pluggable user interface software components that are managed and displayed in
a web portal. Portlets produce fragments of markup code that are aggregated into a portal.
Typically, following the desktop metaphor, a portal page is displayed as a collection of non-
overlapping portlet windows, where each portlet window displays a portlet. Hence a portlet (or
collection of portlets) resembles a web-based application that is hosted in a portal. Some
examples of portlet applications are email, weather reports, discussion forums, and news.
Portlet standards are intended to enable software developers to create portlets that can be
plugged into any portal supporting the standards. *
A web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the World
Wide Web. A web service is a software function provided at a network address over the web or
the cloud, it is a service that is "always on" as in the concept of utility computing. The W3C
defines a "Web service" as: [...] a software system designed to support interoperable machine-
to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processable
format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed
by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML
serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards. The W3C also states: We can
identify two major classes of Web services: REST-compliant Web services, in which the primary
purpose of the service is to manipulate XML representations of Web resources using a uniform
set of "stateless" operations; and arbitrary Web services, in which the service may expose an
arbitrary set of operations. *
A software widget is a generic type of software application comprising portable code intended
for one or more different software platforms. The term often implies that either the application,
user interface, or both, are light, meaning relatively simple and easy to use, as exemplified by a
desk accessory or applet, as opposed to a more complete software package such as a
spreadsheet or word processor. *
* Source: Wikipedia except where noted
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Appendix: Embedded Business Intelligence Study Survey Instrument
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2013 Wisdom of Crowds ® Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study
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