Executives from Brio Software, Hyperion, Informatica and Others Join Emerging Players in Discussion of Trends and Opportunities for Entrepreneurs And Investors
“Economic pressures, increased operational complexity and new corporate governance requirements have only served to exacerbate the growing need for new, more agile, more powerful solutions,” explained Anita Rao, vice president of Enterprise Software at Garage Technology Ventures. “Despite the current softness in IT spending, we see a significant increase in the deployment of analytics software across virtually all industries. It’s not enough to be networked, integrated and automated. The goal is to be the Intelligent Enterprise.”
Garage Technology Ventures hosted experts in the field at the Quadrus Conference Center here earlier this week, to offer investors and entrepreneurs a discussion about the trends and opportunities for the new generation of technology and tools that extract knowledge from data. Under an umbrella topic of “The Intelligent Enterprise,” the June 11 gathering was part of Garage’s ongoing STATE OF THE ART series of invitation-only industry-specific events. This series is designed to bring together private equity investors and industry thought leaders, and spotlight emerging technology companies in discussions about future technology trends, business models and investment opportunities in the selected sectors.
“The last twenty-five years of analytics are the baseline for where new innovation will drive the application of analytics for the intelligent enterprise,” commented Mark Smith CEO & SVP of Research for Ventana Research. “The next wave of software for managing performance of an organization is strongly based on applying analytics and collaboration to information.”
Smith joined a panel of experts, comprised of:
- Ajay Birla, VP & CIO, Solectron, Technology Solutions Business Unit
- Bill Gaylord, VP Market Development, Hyperion
- Brian Gentile, EVP and CMO, Brio Software
- Ivan Chong, VP Product Management, Informatica
Echoing Smith, panelists concurred that collaboration tools would be the logical next step to help them better develop, visualize and analyze data. In addition, the panel provided perspective on several areas ripe for new solutions that, in turn, may present opportunities for new players.
“Early adopters of Business Performance Management have been able to derive competitive advantage by linking operations with financial performance, for example,” said Hyperion’s Bill Gaylord, noting: “Moving forward, the business opportunity is for the development of applications that form part of the Business Performance Management ecosystem.”
“The link between operational intelligence and Business Performance Management is what’s missing today,” added Brio’s Brian Gentile. “Operations logistics management is one area begging for faster insight and a link to the performance management systems above it.”
Informatica’s Chong highlighted opportunities to leverage established platforms: “There are opportunities for startups to leverage Informatica’s consolidated, enterprise-wide data integration platform to offer solutions that optimize business efficiency.”
Speaking from the customers’ perspective, Solectron’s Birla noted that while a lot of emphasis is placed on real-time solutions, it remains “a nice to have.” He also suggested that vendors pay attention to the problems that enterprise customers have today and look to solve those problems with technology – rather than trying to sell technology and make it fit into their problem.
Among up-and-coming private company presentations, were:
- Subhash Chowdhury, CEO, Aankhen, Founder Seecommerce
- Chandran Sankaran, President and CEO, Closedloop Solutions
About STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE ART is an ongoing series of invitation-only industry-specific events, hosted by venture capital investment bank Garage Technology Ventures. Garage’s objective is to bring together private equity investors, industry thought leaders, and spotlight emerging technology companies in discussions about future technology trends, business models, and investment opportunities in the selected sectors.
About Garage Technology Ventures
Garage Technology Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley focusing on emerging technology companies on the West Coast. The firm is currently investing in its third fund, a seed-stage and early-stage fund anchored with an investment from CalPERS. Unlike some venture funds, Garage is happy to support first-time entrepreneurs who are building the next great technology company.
Media Contact:
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