Whenever I meet customers and I have the opportunity to talk about business intelligence, I am always struck by the universal truth that most enterprises run on Microsoft Excel. This is a great opening to talk about how much is known about the amazing capabilities embedded in the Microsoft BI platform across SQL Server, SharePoint and Office (particularly Excel). I often ask customers if they know that Microsoft Excel can be used for data mining and predictive analysis. Their widening eyes tell me that the power of business intelligence (BI) still remains a bit of a secret. But the truth is, Microsoft BI has recently been recognized as being the top leader in the latest BI Gartner Magic Quadrant and we’re super excited about that since Avanade is the premier global SI of Microsoft BI solutions and services.
One of the key points of the reports was to highlight that the potential of BI and analytics to gain CIO mindshare has never been greater. Being a Microsoft partner in this space, with tools that are widely used and recognized and the scale being offered by server-side applications such as SQL Server, is a tremendous asset for Avanade to deliver extremely high value solutions to customers. As Luca Gialdini, IT Strategy Director, EMEA & Latin America, of Fresenius Medical Care, the main world-wide producer of products and services for people with chronic kidneys problems – a condition that afflicts more than 1.300.000 people globally, puts it: “Working with Avanade allowed us to immediately exploit the full potential offered by the Microsoft BI platform, while building the know-how within the IT department.”
