All Hail Microsoft’s Formal Entrance into the Land of Performance Management!

So while Performance Guy Nic is busy prowling the halls of the Seattle Convention Center this week at the first ever Microsoft BI Conference, it occurs to me that it’s a great opportunity to take a look at the impact of Microsoft on the performance management market.

To be sure, they are a formidable force in any market they enter. Their resources and patience are bottomless, and they are not afraid of refining a strategy many times over.

But the BI and performance management market has changed significantly since they first announced this initiative over 18 months ago. Then, if you look at the reactions from the analysts and press, it was a matter of time before they took over the space, and the vendors were all put on their guard—deals were frozen, partners were summoned, developer resources marshaled.

So what’s different now? Well, the market is, for one. The market now, given the rapid consolidation we’ve seen just in the last month, means that other vendors are in a far stronger position to compete against Microsoft than they were a few years ago.

Also, the maturity of the market is different. While at the time positioned strongly as both an enterprise and mid-market play, given the rich features and functionality of other offerings in the market, it’s going to get mighty crowded up in the Fortune 1000 for a non-business oriented sales manager. Which leaves the mid-market, which is where the analysts think this will probably gain the most traction early on, especially as the planning and budgeting capabilities of the performance point products take time to catch up to what’s on the market today.

Also, given that we’re still about 6 months or so away from the launch, who’s to say what else will happen in the market that may further marginalize this offering.

Or are we about to see the unveiling of a performance management juggernaut that will lay waste to the EPM landscape. Let’s ask our roving Microsoft correspondent Nic Smith—over to you, Nic…