IBM has launched Cognos Express, a business intelligence and planning package designed for midsized clients. It offers an integrated approach to planning, analysing and reporting performance and identifying trends.
According to IBM, the new Cognos Express provides pre-configured business analytics and planning capabilities in a single offering, enabling mid-market executives to launch their business analytics strategy. It also offers a centralised, web-based console that manages all administrative aspects of installation, deployment and ongoing management, minimising the need for IT staff assistance.
The new offering also comes with an in-memory analytics server that allows clients to centrally manage data, business rules, and calculations.
According to IBM, built on an open platform, the Cognos Express portfolio includes three products, Express Reporter, Express Advisor, and Express Xcelerator. Express Reporter allows business users to securely access data to create detailed financial, operational, transactional production reports and ad hoc queries using drag and drop authoring capabilities.
The company said that Cognos Express Advisor offers analysis and ‘what if’ scenario planning for long- and short-term performance forecasting and Express Xcelerator helps managers transform their spreadsheets with an underlying in-memory analytics engine for real-time multidimensional analysis, planning, budgeting and forecasting.
Ben Plummer, director of Cognos midmarket business unit at IBM, said: “Midsized organisations are the engines that will lead the global economy back to growth and prosperity. Even in today’s unsettled landscape, midsized companies are striving to better harness their information so they can continue to innovate and grow.
“We are committed to helping our midmarket clients harness the power of analytics with immediate, less-costly access to business insights, with the predictive abilities they need to make better, sharper, timelier decisions.”
Express Reporter, Express Xcelerator, and Express Advisor are expected to be available in mid-September 2009.
