Microsoft purchases Datazen to bring business intelligence to mobile devices

Business intelligence is an awesome tool that enables companies to monitor metrics, track trends, and make smarter decisions. Mobile devices are fantastic tools that allow people to be productive on the go from virtually anywhere. What’s better than both of those things–combining them.

I wrote a blog post about what the Datazen purchase brings to the table for Microsoft business intelligence:

Microsoft announced yesterday that it has acquired Datazen–a mobile business intelligence and data visualization service. The move will allow Microsoft to deliver Power BI across mobile devices, including iOS and Android.

There are a few major trends driving business these days. Two of them are mobile devices and big data analytics. Microsoft recognizes the value of helping customers access business analytics from mobile devices. It has been pushing the mobile first / cloud first mantra since Satya Nadella took the helm, and the Datazen acquisition will enable Microsoft to raise the bar and provide even greater value.

The challenge for most organizations is how to aggregate massive amounts of data and sift through it intelligently to find the valuable gems of information that can make a different. Microsoft already has the big data analytics and business intelligence component with Power BI. Microsoft Power BI delivers the power of big data analytics and business intelligence through Excel–a very popular application that most users are familiar with. Ultimately, it helps average users extract valuable business intelligence without having to become big data gurus.

Datazen adds the mobile component so that customers can tap the power of business intelligence from mobile devices as well. Kamal Hathi, Partner Director, Cloud + Enterprise for Microsoft, in a blog post announcing the acquisition talked about how Datazen has positioned itself. He noted that Datazen is at the forefront of mobile business intelligence, especially for Microsoft customers.

“In particular, SQL Server customers love Datazen, because it is optimized for SQL Server Analysis Services and the overall Microsoft platform, enabling rich, interactive data visualization and KPIs on all major mobile platforms: Windows, iOS, and Android,” explained Hathi.

You can read the full story of Microsoft’s acquisition of Datazen on TechRepublic: Datazen acquisition could bring Microsoft Power BI to iOS and Android.