It is with deep regret that we have decided to move off of SAP BO.
I am particularly saddened by this as I was on the selection committee for this tool overriding Crystal Decisions, Microstratgey and Cognos-back in the late 90s.
But after dealing with SAP; their ‘know it all’ sales people; the loss of the greatest OLAP tool availabe-DESKI; the promoting legacy reporting tool-Crystal; ALL the broken promises; system hang-ups and cumbersome use. We have elected to rewrite our Business Intelligence going in another direction.
Good Luck to all the continued users of BO. It was a GREAT solution in its time away from SAP.
The sad fact of the matter is that at the enterprise end of the market all the vendors are the same i.e. equally bad…it is just a question of how long it takes this to become a problem for you
I agree, at the enterprise end of things all the vendors are the same.
But I also agree that Business Objects(Pre-SAP) was by far the BEST of the BEST. They got even better when they acquired ACTA as their Data Integrator.
After that…the end of an all around good era.
I agree. Pound for pound, it’s still the best BI tool out there, IMHO. Mainly, I believe, the legacy of some outstanding development from the original BusObj staff, rather than anything SAP have done with the toolset since acquisition.
But: it is becoming increasingly difficult to deal with SAP as a company, and I’m seeing more and more often that this is impacting on vendor/client relationships. Without wishing to appear nostalgic, it really WAS so much better dealing with BusinessObjects when they were independent.
I may be ‘old school’, but in my book a supplier exists to meet the needs of its customers, not vice versa.
Since the acquisition there seems to have been a major reversal in this relationship, with thousands of customers now having to develop workarounds to fit in with SAP’s product strategy, rather than the product strategy fitting in with the wishes and needs of the customer base.
Maybe this was the reason that BiGuru said good-bye.
I know myself and my clients are getting sick and tired of the new regime of SAP BO. One of them and the latest commented that the SAP sales group went over IT Director, directly to the CEO\CIO and proposed what Crystal can do for them.
They not only got shot down but I am told that now there is friction of keeping the BO tool and currently being discussed. Wonder what the SAP idiots said ???
Interesting comment because when they (SAP BO Sales Idiots) contacted the CIO\CEO this pushed the focus to look towards Oracle for expansion.
I know that a multi-million dollar answer is not the answer but the argument is holding against SAP BO
I would like to hear from others on this topic as well.
I don’t think for very much longer if SAP keeps treating Business Objects the way they do. In my opinion, they should keep Crystal Reports and sell off Business Objects to those who care enough about it to do great things with it. I think the only reason SAP purchased Business Objects was because of Crystal Reports. I know many of you will disagree but from the way they showcase Crystal, I rest my case.
Also, there are quite a few up and coming BI tools that are very promising (Qlikview comes to mind). Remember, Business Objects used to be small, up and coming at one point as well.
I am not at all surprised by BIGuru’s company’s decisions. I know quite a few that have abandoned Business Objects and most of them were mid-size businesses. There will be more, I am sure. Oh, well. You win some and lose some.
We shall miss you, BIGuru, but you can always participate in Michael’s thread
I agree, SAP are in the process of killing what was once a great product set. With the major BI vendors focusing entirely on the huge deals, it seems that things have come full circle, and the independent vendors will provide the valuable ways forward once again.
I was very interested (and disappointed - of course) in this thread. I’d like to chime in on behalf of SAP that we continue to be very committed to our customers. That said, by the comments in this thread, it doesn’t feel this way to many of you. Please feel free to email me directly with your feedback and frustration. I commit to you to getting you a prompt response and updating you with what we’re doing with your feedback.
As head of Customer Success for SAP BusinessObjects your comments are important to me and to all of us here at SAP. I hope to hear from you. Best regards, Mary email: mary.brigden@sap.com
May be my own opinion mary but too little too late I think is the best words to add.
I don’t believe SAP cares enough.
My current contract is unfortunately bringing other tools for evaluation. Seems that not only are they frustrated with this whole SAP BO direction but the sales people are going over the heads of IT and don’t think its a good thing they are doing this.
That said, I hope to still stay with BO but it doesn’t look promising if I stay here.
I don’t think my sales guy knows anything about BI. He shows up and pretty much can’t answer a question, tries to push upgrades and tries to sell consulting. Last fall he encouraged us to go to 4.0 in first quarter 2011 and brushed off concerns that there was no release date and it’s a .0 release. He’s slick and awful. And he replaces the guy who stood around during our audit. It’s not a great relationship right now.
That could be just a personality thing, but the general vibe of the company (the face that I see anyway) is different than a few years ago. The local user group was strong and fun but went away. The ASUG agendas are not appealing to me since we’re not going to go ERP and I can’t waste a day hoping the BI content might be valuable. It was a terrific company to work with, but now SAP wants to take more profit out of them. It’s life, but you’re not going to get anyone to say it’s been an improvement.
I’m going to have to say that I have observed the same thing with nearly all of the account reps that I’ve dealt with. They know surprisingly little about the product they sell.
Seems like they are constantly being rotated/assigned to new customers so as to avoid any kind of accountability.
First of all, please refrain from any name calling. If it continues, this thread will be locked.
Second, I encourage all of you to take Mary’s offer. What have you got to lose? Send her an honest, professional email, and allow her to do her job. I appreciate her offer.
(BOB member since 2006-12-29)
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