WALLDORF, GERMANY:  Meeting a growing demand from companies of all sizes for software-as-a-service (SaaS) business intelligence (BI) tools that are easy to use, SAP AG today announced the SAP BusinessObject BI OnDemand solution.

Targeted at casual BI users currently underserved by products on the market, the solution would deliver a complete BI toolset in one flexible offering. Its ease-of-use also would allow them to be up and running with no prior experience or training. The solution would enable business users to access and visually navigate data from any source using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software.

Even casual users can then combine that data in just a few clicks, and follow a guided path that walks them through reporting and analysis. The solution will have scalable pricing models based on business need, allowing companies to easily and cost-effectively scale as required, said a press release.

The features include:

*SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software, which empowers people with powerful data exploration and
  visualization capabilities.

*Capabilities that guide people with no prior BI experience through the process of accessing, exploring,
  visualizing and sharing data – all without needing to switch between applications.

*The ability to access all on-demand and on-premise data – including SAP data and data from the Salesforce
  customer relationship management (CRM) application. People will be able to easily upload data to create
  dashboards, reports or interactive visualizations.

*An on-demand solution for creating ad-hoc reports, conducting what-if analyses and securely sharing this
  information inside or outside the company. Business users will be able to provide customers, partners and
  employees across all lines of business with immediate, anytime access to the most current data.

“Customers want to work with their data their way – whether it's behind a firewall, on the Web, or on their local computer in spreadsheets,” said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager, Intelligence Platform Group and SAP NetWeaver Solution Management, SAP.

He further said that solutions like SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand let customers understand their business the way they want – instantly and easily. With access to data at their fingertips, customers can make more confident decisions, share their insights with others and react quickly to any changes in their business. SAP makes BI more pervasive by giving underserved casual users an affordable, easy-to-use on-demand BI solution.

SAP is currently planning to make SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand available through its SAP PartnerEdge program in the channel partner ecosystem later in 2010, said the release.