Business Objects Hires Forrester BI Analyst
In his new role, the longtime Forrester Research analyst will report to Bernard Liautaud, Business Objects' founder, chairman and chief strategy officer.
Business Objects, which has dual headquarters in Paris and San Jose, Calif., said Gile will help shape its vision and strategy. "We look forward to working with Keith as he helps us chart the future of Business Objects," Liautaud said in a statement.
In an industry report early this year that analyzed the offerings of 10 business intelligence vendors, Gile named Business Objects the BI industry leader, followed closely by rival Cognos. He cited Crystal Reports' ease of use and the depth of Business Objects' analytics portfolio as competitive advantages. In another research note issued after Business Objects' April acquisition of data-quality software vendor Firstlogic, Gile praised the deal as a solid move toward rounding out Business Objects' platform but cautioned the company not to alienate Firstlogic's customer base by wholly absorbing its technology.
"Business Objects needs to continue marketing Firstlogic's IQ8 and IQ Insight independently," Gile wrote. "On balance, the doubts outweigh the certainties as the consolidation of data management vendors continues."
IT companies have a history of picking off the analysts that cover them. Most famously, Oracle hired Morgan Stanley analyst Charles Phillips in 2003, soon promoting him to company co-president. Open-source database startup Ingres lured Citigroup analyst Tom Berquist to the industry side early this year to serve as its CFO, and open-source server software project Open-Xchange scooped up IDC software analyst Daniel Kusnetzky as its marketing strategist.