SAP Enters Predictive Analytics Space

Software mega-vendor SAP says that it is responding to customer demand for predictive analytics software with a new product called (drum roll…) Predictive Analysis (wow, what a let down…).

While SAS is the big statistical player in this BI market, IBM entered several years ago by acquiring software vendor SPSS. Of course, Oracle also wants to be the leader.

The emerging open-source solution is R Stat, which is used by Information Builders in their WebFOCUS product.

SAP says there are five things you need to understand about predictive analytics:

1. Predictive analytics is nothing new but the emerging “big data” trend changes things.
2. While it’s a “data statistician game,” many business users have a need and want tools.
3. This will sit on top of their in-memory HANA which promises real-time analysis from big data.
4. Not that SAP will ignore other databases, mind you…
5. And, for the time being, this is only available via the “Ramp-Up Program” for early-release testers.

For the informal version, see the SAP blog by Mani Gill, VP/GM of SAP BI.

For the entire story, see the SAP Press Release.