ABSTRACT: An annual assessment of the positioning strategies of the leading 21 BI vendors finds a lack of differentiation that makes it difficult for buyers to compare products.

Many of the leading 21 business intelligence vendors position themselves with undifferentiated messaging that makes it hard for buyers to compare solutions. In my annual assessment of the positioning strategies of the leading BI vendors, lack of differentiation – a problem since I started this assessment eight years ago – has become an even bigger problem. This is good news for Qlik, the only vendor in this assessment with a clear, unique position. 

Lack of differentiation causes buyer confusion

According to Neuromarketing – a book I highly recommend – the decision-making portion of the brain looks for evidence to make a quick decision. Differentiation provides that evidence.

Lack of differentiation creates a state of confusion for the decision-making portion of the brain. Therefore, long sales cycles, price wars or no decision must be common outcomes for most BI vendors. But perhaps not Qlik.

In the BI market’s sea of sameness, Qlik is the only vendor that stands out with this clever, memorable position:

 “Close the gap between data and action. Proceed with certainty.”

Qlik’s position makes you want to learn more, which is what a good position does.

In contrast, Tableau, which has had a compelling position over the years – “See and understand your data” – drowns it out this year by making two of the most common “me-too” claims in the BI market – “better decisions” and “insights everywhere.” 

Tableau’s home page headline reads: “Make better decisions with analytics powered by AI + Data + CRM.”

Nine other competitors say they enable better, faster, more informed, more confident decisions, compared with four last year. Here are the various “decisions” claims:

Tableau sounds like the competition with this copy below the headline:

“Tableau drives better business outcomes and intelligent customer experiences with insights everywhere, for everyone.”

Five other competitors claim some form of “insights,”down from eight last year. Here are the various “insights” claims:

The second panel of Tableau’s website introduces what should still be its position: “See and understand your data.” But Tableau demotes this with home page claims that blend in with the crowd. To make it worse, the next sentence is one of the most common claims in B2B marketing:

“Our visual analytics platform is transforming the way people use data to solve problems.”

Tableau might improve the way people use data to solve problems, but that’s not a transformation. A transformation is a change from one form to a completely different form. That’s not what Tableau does.

While  Google is the only vendor  with a “transformation” position – “Puts data at the center of your business transformation” – that concept is overused in B2B software and technology marketing. And proof is almost never provided. For example, Google doesn’t prove its “transformation” claim.

Microsoft undermines an effective position

Microsoft, which ranks higher than Tableau in the leader’s quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, has a messaging problem rather than a positioning problem. 

While Microsoft has a compelling, unique position – “Turn your data into immediate impact” – its supporting message negates it:

“Do more with less using an end-to-end BI platform to create a single source of truth, uncover more powerful insights, and translate them into impact.”

This packs a lot of information into a sentence, along with a buzzword (insights) and industry jargon (end-to-end and single source of truth).

Here is how the 21 vendors position themselves relative to each other:

Use perceptual mapping while brainstorming positioning statement options

Perceptual mapping assists message strategy development. Here’s how BI vendors can create positioning statements that differentiate rather than blend in with the competition.

After completing sufficient enough research, create a list of target audience problems and rank them by importance.  Start brainstorming positioning statements that solve the No. 1 problem. Then check the perceptual map to see if it differentiates.

If it doesn’t differentiate, then brainstorm positioning statements that solve the No. 2 problem. Keep doing this until you converge on a positioning statement that is unique, believable and important because it solves a pressing target audience problem.

Vendors should tackle this process. They have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by building  positioning statements that make them stand out in the crowded BI market.