The consolidation in the business intelligence software space continues with IBM’s announcement that it will acquire SPSS, Inc. for $1.2 billion. According to the New York Times, Jim Davis off rival SAS, the largest supplier in the market,
“The attractiveness of these companies ‘reflects the increasing pressure by senior management of corporations for ‘tighter, fact-based decision making, especially in this economy.’”
“It’s a good fit for IBM,” says Tom Davenport, Lead Faculty Member here at the International Institute for Analytics, on the IANS Perspective blog. “SPSS was the only remaining analytical software provider of any size that anyone could buy. It augments IBM’s business intelligence capabilities in Cognos, and its optimization and rule engine capabilities in ILog – not to mention its 4000-strong Business Analytics and Optimization unit in Global Business Services. IBM is clearly making a major play in analytics. It will be very interesting to see how the company combines all these businesses and goes to market with them.”
What do you think about this acquisition? Smart move for IBM? Will there be an effect — positive or negative — on innovation? What do you think will happen next given that there are no acquisition targets of major size remaining?
