Path Infotech and Microsoft launch CoE for Business Intelligence

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Path Infotech Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 certified Information Solutions & Services Company, has announced the opening of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Business Intelligence (BI) solutions in collaboration with Microsoft. The CoE will develop solutions on Microsoft platform and provide end to end solutions in the area of BI and will offer customers a place for technology demonstrations, situation specific proof of concepts, and the ability to see a working setup on Microsoft’s BI platform.

In the initial phase, the CoE will develop solutions to cater to new global entrants and mid market companies in the financial services industry. Going forward the CoE plans to develop solutions that will cater to the needs of large FSI customers and other industry verticals like manufacturing, retails and insurance.

Speaking on the announcement, Sudhanshu Jain, Chief Architect – BI Solutions, Path Infotech, said “We are seeing increasing demand for Microsoft’s BI solutions from customers, who cite competitive pricing, ease of use and manageability as some of their key requirements when evaluating options. Through the CoE we hope not only to cater to this market need by providing customized BI solutions, but also will also work towards defining best practices, and creating Industry specific data models.” 

The BI COE will act as enabler and facilitator to provide solutions in hands of decision makers who need to have up to the minute one view of business. BI enables this by integrating, storing, reporting, and analyzing data so that it delivers insight, which in turn drives better business performance, which is a key requirement for any enterprise. Some of the largest users of BI and data mining solutions in India are the BFSI, manufacturing, telecom, insurance, retail, pharmaceuticals, etc., both in the larger enterprise and in the smaller companies operating in these areas.

According to a 2006 Gartner report, India is the fastest growing business intelligence (BI) platforms market in Asia, posting a growth of 35.6 per cent in 2005-06 and is expected to grow to nearly $6.3 billion by 2010, with a five-year CAGR of 9.5 percent. Small and mid-size companies are proving to be the next emerging market for BI solutions and products. “Gartner has acknowledged Microsoft as one of the top 3 BI vendors in India, and with the establishment of Microsoft BI CoE, we hope to add more robust and affordable offerings to our existing stack of BI offerings to fully address customer demand and tap the growing market potential. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Path represents the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies and has the closest working relationship with Microsoft. At this level, we have access to the resources and support needed to stand out in the marketplace.” added Jain.

Commenting on the partnership with Path Infotech, Radhesh Balakrishnan, Director Platform Strategy, Microsoft India, said “Through a combination of the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server, Office 2007 system and Path Infotech’s proven expertise in seamless transition and solutions deployment, this partnership will help organizations unlock the value of their data, irrespective of the database in use. We are proud to be partnering with Path Infotech to provide customized and integrated BI solutions to customers.”

Path Infotech will develop BI solutions based on Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Office System, specifically, Microsoft Office's Excel, Excel Services (in the 2007 Office system) and SharePoint Server 2007. SQL Server 2005 offers set of BI components covering online analytical processing (OLAP), data integration, data mining and enterprise reporting.