Mercurial Launches Cloud-Based BI Service With Information Builders

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - Jun 28, 2011) - Information Builders, an independent leader in business intelligence (BI) solutions, has collaborated with sales and performance management consulting firm Mercurial to launch one of Australia's first true cloud-based BI services.

Mercurial has been using Information Builders' industry-standard BI platform WebFOCUS to deliver MiPortal, a web-based BI tool -- primarily in the pharmaceutical industry -- for the past few years. The company has recently completed the upgrade of all of its clients to a cloud-based platform. The migration to a true cloud-based service has followed the evolution of WebFOCUS' architecture development, to the point where Mercurial's services can now be delivered without the need for separate physical servers for its clients.

The upgrade has provided multi-browser support to Mercurial's clients widening the variety of devices, such as notebooks, tablets, and smartphones, that can be used to access information in the cloud.

"Moving to a cloud platform provides us with the ability to implement solutions and service our clients much more rapidly, with the added benefit of the security and integrity that cloud services provide," said Adam Hawkins, co-founder and managing director of Sydney-based Mercurial.

Mercurial's clients rely on their business solutions to drive top- and bottom-line business performance through increased customer awareness, business risk and opportunity identification, and the quality and velocity of commercial decision-making.

"Over the past few years, local companies have felt the pressure of influences, such as the global financial crisis and government cost controls, and have had to reengineer a lot of their sales, marketing, and management processes as a result," said Hawkins.

"Traditionally companies can spend weeks compiling multiple information sources for their sales and commercial operations. Using the WebFOCUS business intelligence tool, our industry expertise, and our delivery over the cloud, we have built MiPortal, which gets best practice, decision-ready intelligence out to the sales field in a matter of days, giving them a significant competitive edge.

"Our clients have come to realize that business data loaded on to a salesperson's laptop or tablet computer is far more vulnerable than information held securely within the cloud," continued Hawkins. "We have greater security and control around the information contained within the cloud and we can readily set rules as to the level of access given to each employee."

Mercurial's services were initially built on an ASP model, with users logging in to their own physical partitions in Mercurial's data center to retrieve live information via a web browser. In the past few months, the company has worked closely with Information Builders to re-design its services based on a true cloud-based computing model, eliminating the need for physical servers, and broadening the reach of the service to users on multiple platforms and mobile devices.

"The nature and basic delivery of Mercurial's service remain the same, but what's different now is the ability to take that service to a much broader audience over the cloud," says Dave Small, senior vice president, International Operations, Information Builders. "Other vendors have long spoken about the migration of BI to the cloud, and the delivery of BI services to mobile users, but we've been doing these things with WebFOCUS for years, and Mercurial is now the only company I'm aware of that can demonstrate a live cloud-based BI service with tangible customers in Australia."

Mercurial's customers in Australia include the likes of CSL Biotherapies, a member of the CSL Group of pharmaceutical research and development companies.

"One of the biggest challenges for us in a competitive market is reducing the cost of sales while keeping staff focused on commercial objectives, and that's exactly what we've been able to achieve with Mercurial's MiPortal service," says Matthew Rees, senior manager, CSL Biotherapies. "Without having to invest in additional infrastructure and training, MiPortal gives our field sales team rapid access to the most recent business information on the devices they already use every day, in the format they need, combined with additional insight from the Mercurial team. It's a key business tool for us and I expect it to become even more important as our business evolves."

"WebFOCUS literally opens up the market for us in terms of where we can take our services," adds Hawkins. "Not only do we plan to expand to different vertical sectors, but we can also expand our services beyond the physical limitations of a static data center to provide round-the-clock availability for multinational clients in Australia and around the world."

Podcast Gallery
The podcast links below feature Adam Hawkins discussing the Information Builders and Mercurial announcement in more detail:

• Mercurial Overview - An overview of Mercurial's new cloud-based service, with background information on how it was established
• Information Builders Mercurial Partnership - A discussion on Mercurial's partnership with Information Builders and how the two companies work together to create a unique cloud-based BI service
• Information Builders Mercurial Customization - More detail on how the cloud service can be customized to clients' requirements
• Information Builders Mercurial Expansion - An explanation on how the cloud service will enable Mercurial to expand its business geographically and to new industries

About Mercurial
Mercurial helps businesses unlock the value of their people, processes, technology, and information investments. Mercurial's unique skills are applied to overcome system/data integration hurdles, build best practice business optimization tools, and provide ongoing services and consulting to their clients. Mercurial's proven techniques and technology alliances guarantee rapid, scalable, high-quality results, enabling faster and better informed decision-making. This results in enhanced customer value, faster identification of business risks and opportunities, a greater consistency of commercial decision-making and a higher return on investment. For more information, please visit mercurial.com.au.

About Information Builders
Information Builders provides software and services that bring smarter decision-making and streamlined processes to leading organizations in business, government, and education worldwide. The company's software is installed in tens of thousands of locations, servicing millions of users. Its WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) platform delivers massively scalable information applications, analytics, and customer-facing portals to the new generation of information users to deliver game-changing business results. Its iWay Software integration platform allows enterprises to leverage all of their information resources to streamline internal and business-to-business processes while escalating the overall accessibility and integrity of information regardless of environmental complexity. Headquartered in New York City with 60 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,350 people and has established significant industry partnerships. Visit Information Builders at informationbuilders.com. For ongoing news, go to informationbuilders.com/new or follow Information Builders at @infobldrs.