IBM launches Cognos for Midsized Clients

IBM today launched IBM Cognos Express, a solution designed for midsized clients.

According IBM's Press Release:
"MIDSIZE ENTERPRISE SUMMIT WEST & LOS ANGELES - 14 Sep 2009: As part of IBM’s ongoing investment in business analytics, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today launched IBM Cognos Express, an all-in-one business intelligence and planning solution specifically designed and priced for midsized clients. Deployed in just a matter of hours, the new solution offers clients a low-cost and low-risk, integrated approach to planning, analyzing and reporting performance, identifying trends, and ultimately helping businesses make smarter business decisions.

The new IBM Cognos Express solution provides pre-configured business analytics and planning capabilities in a single offering, enabling midmarket executives to quickly launch their business analytics strategy and then evolve it as their needs grow.

Through its self-service environment, IBM Cognos Express allows clients to easily build reports, analyses, dashboards and multi-dimensional plans on their own, saving time and ensuring they remain responsive to competitive pressures.

Built on an open platform, the IBM Cognos Express portfolio includes three products that can be purchased together or individually to meet a specific need:

- IBM Cognos Express Reporter – lets business users securely access any type of data to create detailed financial, operational, transactional production reports and ad hoc queries using simple drag and drop authoring capabilities
- IBM Cognos Express Advisor – offers sophisticated analysis and “what if” scenario planning for long- and short-term performance forecasting. Key metrics can then be shared among stakeholders using live dashboards
- IBM Cognos Express Xcelerator – helps managers transform their common spreadsheets with an underlying in-memory analytics engine for real-time multidimensional analysis, planning, budgeting and forecasting

IBM Cognos Express is part of a broader family of new software and hardware offerings being launched today through the IBM General Business Express Advantage program."

UPDATED - September 18, 2009

Some comments on this subject:

- IBM Cognos Express BI Targets the Midmarket - CIO.com
- IBM Puts a Business Intelligence Foot in the Door at Midsize Companies - Intelligent Enterprise
- IBM Cognos Express and the New BI Battle Ground - Cindi Howson
- IBM Cognos Express Hits and Misses - Doug Henschen
- Cognos Showcases Strong Momentum, Ambitious Plans - Merv Adrian
- Cognos Two Years Later - Wayne Eckerson