Information Builders Expands Its SaaS Analytic Applications
Information Builders, an enterprise business intelligence (BI) and Web reporting software provider, has added new features to its WebFOCUS BI platform. The additions strengthen security offerings and simplify the administration of its Software as a Service (SaaS) deployments.
"These features are important for helping our clients strengthen their customer retention capabilities," notes Michael Corcoran, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of global marketing at Information Builders. "Our customers are getting a better data infrastructure and a high level of security that makes our platforms and products hacker-proof to the best of our abilities."
The new offerings include:
- Multitenancy capabilities, enabling service providers to securely host customers in a shared environment that can quickly scale to accommodate growing demand.
- Greater security options, allowing service providers to determine which WebFOCUS features are available to customers, protecting sensitive information, and streamlining the reporting environment. With this model, providers can differentiate their reporting service by selectively offering features such as ad-hoc reporting, report scheduling, end-user content sharing, and delegated administration.
- Tenant onboarding templates, which automate the process of creating content folders, groups, roles, and security policies for new customers. WebFOCUS features several SaaS templates to simplify onboarding, and new ones can be developed to meet specific business requirements.
- New integration features, in which the user's role, content access, and data sources can be tied to LDAP groups, providing better security controls around tenant information. WebFOCUS can also be tailored to mimic the look, branding, and workflow of each tenant's portal as needed.
According to a recent Gartner survey, nearly one third of organizations either already use or plan to use cloud or SaaS offerings to augment their core business BI functions.
"Providing technology tailored to our customers' needs is something that has always set us apart from our competition, and we're continuing to innovate with this latest enhancement," commented Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders, in a statement. "As SaaS gains popularity in the enterprise, we're arming service providers with the solutions they need to reduce costs, enhance security, and simplify administration."