MicroStrategy

Public
Traded as NASDAQ: MSTR
Industry Business intelligence and mobile software
Founded 1989
Headquarters Tysons Corner, Virginia, USA
Key people

Michael J. Saylor (Co-founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer)

David Rennyson (Senior Executive Vice President)
Products MicroStrategy Analytics Platform, MicroStrategy Mobile, MicroStrategy Cloud
Revenue $579.83 million USD (2014)[1]
Number of employees
 3,200+ worldwide[2]
Website www.microstrategy.com

MicroStrategy, Inc. is a provider of business intelligence (BI), mobile software, and cloud-based services. The company is based in the Washington, D.C. area and serves companies and organizations worldwide. Founded in 1989 by Michael J. Saylor and Sanju Bansal, the firm develops software to analyze internal and external data in order to make business decisions and to develop mobile apps. The software can be deployed in companies' data centers, or as cloud services. Notable clients include Facebook,[3][4] Starbucks,[5] and Lowe's Companies.[6]

Overview

MicroStrategy develops and sells business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. The company’s software performs analytics on a variety of data, such as sales figures,[7] payroll data,[8] and inventory[9][10] in order to inform users' business decisions.[11]

MicroStrategy remains one of the few independent, publicly traded BI software providers[12] in the business intelligence (BI) market. Its primary business analytics competitors include SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, and Oracle's BI Platform.[13][14]

MicroStrategy is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metro area and has worldwide operations across 26 countries, in cities including New York, San Francisco, Paris, Warsaw, Madrid, London, Milan, Dubai, Tokyo, Sydney, and São Paulo.[2][15] The CEO and chairman of the board of MicroStrategy is Michael J. Saylor, the company's co-founder.[16][17]

History

Michael J. Saylor started MicroStrategy in 1989 with a consulting contract from DuPont, which provided Saylor with $250,000 in start-up capital and office space in Wilmington, Delaware. Saylor was soon joined by company co-founder Sanju Bansal, whom he had met while the two were students at MIT.[18] The company produced software for data mining and business intelligence using nonlinear mathematics,[16] an idea inspired by a course that they took at MIT.[19] During this time period, the company experienced rapid growth. In 1992, it gained its first major client when it signed a $10 million contract with McDonald's, and increased revenues by 100% every year between 1990 and 1996.[18] In 1994, they moved the company's offices and its 50 employees from Delaware to Tysons Corner, Virginia.[20] MicroStrategy had its initial public offering in June 1998.[21] On its first day of trading, the stock price doubled.[22]

In 2000 MicroStrategy founded Angel an IVR and voice application company. In March 2000, after a review of its accounting practices, MicroStrategy announced that it would restate its financial results for the preceding two years,[23] which resulted in an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[24] A lawsuit was subsequently filed against MicroStrategy and certain of its officials over fraud.[25] In December 2000, Saylor, Bansal, and the company's former CFO settled with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing by each paying $350,000 in fines. The officers also paid a combined total of $10 million in disgorgement. MicroStrategy itself was charged with a number of violations and settled with the SEC by hiring an independent director to ensure regulatory compliance.[26][27]

By the fourth quarter of 2003, the company added over 200 new corporate customers[28] and posted increased revenue for every quarter through the end of 2007.[29] New clients during this period included the United States Postal Service, DHL Express, and Priceline.com.[30][31] In 2007 and 2008, the company was named one of the 200 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes.[32]

In 2009, the company introduced OLAP Services with a shared data set cache, to accelerate reports and ad hoc queries.[33] The relational nature of the OLAP services allowed users to drill down through the database to the transaction-level detail.[34]

In 2010, MicroStrategy began developing and deploying business intelligence software for mobile platforms, such as the iPhone and iPad.[35] Also in 2011, the company expanded its offerings to include a cloud-based service, MicroStrategy Cloud.[36]

In 2012, the firm expanded beyond its BI and mobile products with the release of Wisdom, a market research tool for demographic analysis of social media platforms.[37]

In Fall 2013, the firm introduced the Analytics visual data discovery engine, which allowed users to import data from flat files and connect to enterprise databases. The product came in two versions: a free version called Analytics Desktop, and a version with more advanced features called Analytics Enterprise. The company also announced Analytics Express, a free for one year cloud version of their software, allowing the sharing of dashboards and datasets created in Analytics Desktop.[33] In 2013, MicroStrategy sold Angel to Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories for $110 Million USD.[38]

In November 2013, Bansal left his position with the firm.[39]

In January 2014, the company announced a series of new products including PRIME, a massively parallel, in-memory analytics service, enhanced mobile features including Analytics Express for iPad, and a greater emphasis on mobile and cloud computing, and security, as part of the product strategy.[40]

The company slashed Saylor's salary from $875,000 to $1 in September 2014 at his request.[41]

In October 2014 the company announced plans to lay off 770 employees.[42]

Products

MicroStrategy develops software products focused on four platforms it calls Analytics, Mobile, Identity and Loyalty. The products offered for each platform are, in order, MicroStrategy Analytics, MicroStrategy Mobile, Usher and Alert. Each can be delivered as on-demand software, using a platform called MicroStrategy Cloud.[43]

MicroStrategy Analytics

MicroStrategy Analytics is the firm's original product. It uses business intelligence and predictive analytics software to search through and perform analytics on big data from a variety of sources, including data warehouses, Excel files, and Hadoop distributions.[44] It comes in three versions: Analytics Desktop, a free version for on-premises installation, Analytics Express, a cloud-based software-as-a service version, designed for small groups and free for one year, and Analytics Enterprise, a version with additional features available as a desktop version or as a cloud service.[45] Each version comes with MicroStrategy Visual Insight, a data visualization tool. The most recent major release of the software is 10.1, which was released in August 2015.[46] Release 9.4.1 version was released in May 2013.[47]

In January 2014, the company announced a new feature of the platform called PRIME, (Parallel Relational In-Memory Engine), co-developed with Facebook[. It is a massively parallel processing engine that the company said can support a data volume of 4.6TB and 200 billion rows.[33][48]

Other products

Domain name purchase strategy

Foreseeing the value of owning popular domain names, MicroStrategy embarked on a strategy of buying hundreds of domain names from 1995 to 2000.[58] Some of the names include Strategy.com, Usher.com and Alert.com, names which were used to promote MicroStrategy products.[59][60] Other names purchased include Frank.com, Mike.com and William.com, which the company is making available for sale.[61]

Awards and recognition

In 2011, Apple recognized MicroStrategy's iOS app as one of the best business apps of the year.[62] In 2012, the Business Application Research Center (BARC) ranked MicroStrategy first overall in Mobile BI in the BI Survey 12.[63] Also in 2012, Information Management named MicroStrategy one of the “Forty Vendors We’re Watching” for its ability to understand new business trends.[64]

References

  1. ↑ "MicroStrategy Announces Fourth Quarter 2014 Financial Results". MicroStrategy. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 "About Us". MicroStrategy.com. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  3. ↑ David Carr (26 January 2012). "Even At Facebook, Business Intelligence Is Not Viral". InformationWeek. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Barb Darrow (8 August 2013). "The Structure Show: Parsing Hortonworks, IBM, and all of Facebook’s data". GigaOM. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Doug Henschen (6 July 2011). "Starbucks BI Test: Can Managers Beat Heatwave?". InformationWeek. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "MicroStrategy Delivers High Performance for Virtualized Environment Operations". Business Intelligence Journal. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Doug Henschen (10 July 2012). "MicroStrategy Amps Up Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics". InformationWeek. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Heather Havenstein (23 July 2008). "TSA leans on BI to save $100 million". Computerworld. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  9. ↑ Rick Whiting (31 January 2005). "Business Objects And MicroStrategy Debut Business-Intelligence Upgrades". InformationWeek. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Kurt Peters (2 May 2002). "Retailers Praising MicroStrategy’s New Business Intelligence Platform, 7i". Internet Retailer. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  11. ↑ Doug Henschen (14 January 2009). "MicroStrategy Upgrade Promises Performance and Flexibility Breakthroughs". InformationWeek. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Juan Carlos Perez (21 January 2008). "Customers Trust MicroStrategy's Independence". PCWorld. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  13. ↑ Chris Kanaracus (19 April 2011). "Microstrategy Takes Aim at Self-service BI". Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  14. ↑ Cindi Howson (14 February 2013). "MicroStrategy Doubles Down On Mobile, Data Visualization". InformationWeek. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Contact Us". MicroStrategy.com. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  16. 1 2 Harry Jaffe (1 March 2000). "The Seven Billion Dollar Man". The Washingtonian. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  17. ↑ "Leadership". MicroStrategy.com. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  18. 1 2 Jeff Glasser (15 July 1996). "From the Ground Up and Up". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  19. ↑ Chuck Salter (31 March 2000). "People and Technology - MicroStrategy Inc.". Fast Company. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  20. ↑ Mark Leibovich (6 January 2002). "MicroStrategy's CEO Sped to the Brink". The Washington Post. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  21. ↑ "Initial Public Offerings Key Data". NASDAQ. 11 June 1998. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  22. ↑ David A. Kaplan (12 July 2012). "Michael Saylor: MicroStrategy's boy king grows up". Fortune. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  23. ↑ David S. Hilzenrath (22 March 2000). "For MicroStrategy, A Matter of Timing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  24. ↑ David S. Hilzenrath (14 April 2000). "SEC Investigating MicroStrategy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  25. ↑ "MicroStrategy Chairman Accused of Fraud by S.E.C.". December 15, 2000. Retrieved Jul 11, 2013.
  26. ↑ Debra Lau (18 December 2000). "Forbes Faces: Michael Saylor". Forbes.com. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  27. ↑ David S. Hilzenrath (15 December 2000). "Saylor, Associates Settle Fraud Charges". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  28. ↑ Catherine Yang (8 February 2004). "MicroStrategy's Second Wind". Businessweek.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  29. ↑ Kim Hart (1 February 2007). "Software Company's Strategy Pays Off". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  30. ↑ Anitha Reddy (8 July 2003). "MicroStrategy Wins Contract With Postal Service". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  31. ↑ Kim Hart (29 March 2007). "McLean's MicroStrategy Nets Three More Clients". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  32. ↑ "The 200 Best Small Companies". Forbes. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  33. 1 2 3 "MicroStrategy Launches In-Memory Analysis Engine". Information Week. 2014-02-14. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  34. ↑ "MicroStrategy". TechTarget.com. 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  35. ↑ Alex Kayle (7 July 2010). "iPad spells end for traditional BI". ITWeb. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  36. ↑ Cindi Howson (31 January 2012). "MicroStrategy Cloud, Social And Mobile Bets Pay Off". InformationWeek. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  37. ↑ Cindi Howson (23 July 2012). "MicroStrategy Bets On Visualization, BI for Facebook". InformationWeek. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  38. ↑ "MicroStrategy To Sell Angel.com Unit To Genesys For $110M".
  39. ↑ "MicroStrategy co-founder Sanju K. Bansal to depart company". Bizjournale.com. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  40. ↑ "MicroStrategy Rolls Out Analytics Solutions for Cloud, Mobile Information-Driven Apps". Integration Developer News. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  41. ↑ Krantz, Matt. "Why this CEO slashed his paycheck - to $1". USA Today. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  42. ↑ "MicroStrategy slashes workforce by 20 percent". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
  43. ↑ "CEO Keynote, Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy World 2014". YouTube. 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  44. ↑ "Zettaset adds BI connector to Hadoop tool". IT Web. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  45. ↑ "MicroStrategy Analytics Suite". MicroStrategy.com. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  46. ↑ http://ir.microstrategy.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=930474
  47. ↑ Mark Smith (18 February 2014). "MicroStrategy Reveals New Generation of Analytics for Cloud and Mobile Computing". Ventana Research. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  48. ↑ "MicroStrategy releases 'PRIME'". KMWorld. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  49. ↑ "MicroStrategy Rolls Out Analytics Solutions for Cloud, Mobile Information-Driven Apps". Integration Developer News. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  50. ↑ "Top 10 Mobile Business Intelligence Apps". Enterprise Apps Today. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  51. ↑ Steven Overly (14 April 2013). "MicroStrategy’s office of the future includes mobile identity and cybersecurity". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  52. ↑ Bill Flook (2 October 2013). "Michael Saylor on the iPhone 5s, mobile ID and the new 'biometric war'". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  53. ↑ "MicroStrategy Annual Report". Edgar Online. 2014-02-12. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  54. ↑ Bill Siwicki (14 January 2013). "Specialty retailer Tilly's launches a mobile commerce app". Internet Retailer. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  55. ↑ "Total Wine and More chooses MicroStrategy to power loyalty app". Financial News. 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  56. ↑ Chris Kanaracus (28 September 2011). "MicroStrategy Targets Excel Users With Cloud Personal BI". PCWorld. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  57. ↑ "MicroStrategy Launches In-Memory Analysis Engine". Information Week. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  58. ↑ "The golden domain names of D.C. tech". Washington Business Journal. 2013-11-07. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  59. ↑ "Alert Loyalty Program". microstrategy.com. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  60. ↑ "Usher Mobile Identity Platform". microstrategy.com. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  61. ↑ "MicroStrategy: Nice Domain Strategy". domaininvesting.com. 2011-12-20. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  62. ↑ Shamila Janakiraman (23 December 2011). "MicroStrategy Mobile Placed among the Best Apps in the Business iPhone App Category". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  63. ↑ "MicroStrategy receives highest ranking in numerous KPIs in The BI Survey 12, industry’s largest independent survey". ITWeb. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  64. ↑ "Forty Vendors We’re Watching: 2012". Information Management. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2013.

External links

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