Virtualization is not the only technology that Microsoft is attempting to democratize, as the Redmond giant is also focusing on making Business Intelligence solutions mainstream. In Microsoft's perspective, the key ingredient to the recipe of making BI solutions digestible across all enterprises is the user-friendliness factor. And in this context, the software company is determined to making Business Intelligence available to the “masses.”

“It’s all about having a more expansive vision for BI, thinking bigger and enabling businesses to get smarter and reap the full performance-enhancing benefits of BI across their ranks. BI has this reputation for being forbiddingly complex, eating up IT resources and shutting out regular business users, and it just doesn’t need to be this way - especially when the rewards BI can bring are so profound,” explained Microsoft Business Intelligence Senior Marketing Director Bob Lokken.

The Redmond company revealed that the adoption of its BI platform is on the increase, a context which helped Microsoft climb to the last spot of the world's top five BI vendors the past year. In 2007 alone, sales of Microsoft's Business Intelligence solutions exploded to $555 million, which represents a growth of no less than 15.6%. And Microsoft's BI platform continues to evolve. In August 2008, the company released to manufacturing SQL Server 2008, its data platform which also adds value from a BI point of view.

“We’ve set out to remove the barriers to usage and rid BI of this unnecessary, restrictive baggage, open up access beyond the chosen few, and place BI in the hands of the people - those managing lines of business, out in the field or at the customer interface making decisions - where it can really work its magic,” Lokken explained. “We’ve made it far easier to use - something that anyone with a basic grounding in Office can pick up on the fly and easily incorporate into their everyday tasks,” Lokken added.