Voice Of ExperienceVoice Of Experience

Information Builders Inc. kicked off its annual user conference last May by showing the trailer for the just-released motion picture The Matrix Reloaded. But attendees got a surprise when, thanks to a little digital-image manipulation, Information Builders' president and CEO Gerald Cohen appeared in the brief clip, outfitted in Keanu Reeves' black garb and sunglasses and philosophizing about the benefits of Information Builders' business-intelligence software.

Cohen, who co-founded the privately held company in 1975, has been around the software industry long enough to have seen numerous business and technology cycles, from the industry's mainframe days to the Y2K boom and the dot-com bust. So he speaks with a certain cachet--and a bit of wishful thinking--when he gives an optimistic outlook for 2004.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Information Builders closed 14 deals each of which was worth more than $1 million, Cohen said during a phone interview from his 27th-floor midtown New York office with a view of lower Manhattan and the Hudson River. "That's a good indicator that companies' pocketbooks are starting to open up."

While not expecting another late-1990s-style boom anytime soon, Cohen isn't surprised that businesses are starting to spend a bit more on IT. All that technology installed in 1998 and 1999 is getting old, he says, and sooner or later it becomes more economical to replace it than to sink money into maintaining it. "You can only bottle up technology for so long," he says.

Cohen's more immediate concern is capturing and holding onto a significant share of the business-intelligence software market, which he says is moving into a more-mature phase. Expanding the breadth and depth of Information Builders' product line is key, including growing the company's iWay Software subsidiary, which markets integration software. Cohen's priorities this year: increase indirect sales beyond the 10% of Information Builders' business-intelligence software that's now sold through the channel and expand its sales force.

Cohen sees the business-intelligence industry entering a consolidation stage as dozens of small vendors merge, along the way creating industry standards for the technology. Vendors are also focusing on their core competencies rather than expending development efforts on emerging technologies such as wireless access for business intelligence, Cohen says. But the business-intelligence industry isn't standing still. "We've got a long way to go before BI becomes a commodity," he says.

The genial Cohen, a native of Manhattan who rides the subway to work from his Upper West Side home every day, is closely watching the debate over offshore outsourcing of software development. Cohen often notes that many of today's business-technology executives, including himself, got their start by writing software. While he sees merit to companies outsourcing limited, short-term projects to offshore developers--as his company does--he questions how much development can be outsourced before companies become less responsive to user support issues or requests for new features and capabilities.

Despite the rush to outsource, Cohen encourages high-school students to choose a career in technology. Between the dot-com crash and offshore development, students are shying away from IT, and Cohen says that will lead to shortages of technology professionals. "Right now, the computer-sciences programs are decimated," he says. Cohen earned his mechanical-engineering degree from City College of New York, and in September 2001 he helped inaugurate the new City University of New York Institute for Software Design and Development.

As for the "does IT matter?" debate, Cohen still believes that early adopters of leading-edge business technology--if it's properly exploited--can gain a significant competitive advantage. Insists Cohen, "Technology differentiation does matter to companies."