Cognos 8 gaining traction

Costpoint users are familiar with Impromptu, a fast and easy WYSIWYG (mostly) report writing tool. The web based version of Impromptu has evolved from Impromptu for the Web to Upfront to ReportNet. At the user conference this year, Deltek announced that the latest version with be Cognos 8 and that this will be the new name for ReportNet. Impromptu will be supported until the year 2010. Cognos released their quarterly results on March 30th of this year and announced two interesting facts:

# Fourth quarter license revenue of $117.9 million, up 56 percent from the third quarter
# Cognos 8 license revenue of $55.5 million in the fourth quarter

Both of these bode well for companies using Costpoint. In a highly competitive business intelligence vendor market, Cognos has had a sharp revenue increase and close to 50% of their revenue is from their latest version. They also appear to have won some very large accounts with the new verion. This should make it easier to find help and consulting for the new version in the long term.
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Excerpt from the Cognos press release:

Cognos® Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

— Cognos delivers $117.9 million of license revenue —

Ottawa, ON & Burlington, MA, March 30, 2006– Cognos Incorporated (Nasdaq: COGN; TSX: CSN – all figures in U.S. dollars and in accordance with U.S. GAAP), the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management (CPM) solutions, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2006, ended February 28, 2006.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $253.1 million, compared with $256.3 million for the same period of last fiscal year. License revenue was $117.9 million, compared with $129.9 million in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year. Net income in the quarter was $44.0 million or $0.48 per diluted share, compared with $54.3 million or $0.58 per diluted share for the same period last fiscal year.

Revenue for the full fiscal year 2006 was $877.5 million, compared with $825.5 million for the previous fiscal year. Net income for fiscal year 2006 was $124.8 million, or $1.35 per diluted share, compared with the prior year’s net income of $136.6 million, or $1.47 per diluted share.

“These results represent solid performance,” said Rob Ashe, Cognos president and chief executive officer. “Overall license revenue of $117.9 million, inclusive of Cognos 8 license revenue of $55.5 million, 18 seven-figure contracts, and several major competitive wins all underscore the strength of our performance this quarter. Cognos 8 is setting the agenda for the BI market and establishing itself as the platform of choice for BI standardization.”

“The Cognos team executed well this quarter,” Mr. Ashe continued. “Our market leading solutions for BI and Performance Management position us strongly in this dynamic market. The recent release of Cognos 8 MR1, the launch of our ground-breaking Search solution – Cognos Go!, and our new Strategic Global Alliance with IBM set Cognos on course to take full advantage of the tremendous market opportunity in front of us.”

Highlights:

* Fourth quarter license revenue of $117.9 million, up 56 percent from the third quarter
* Cognos 8 license revenue of $55.5 million in the fourth quarter
* 18 contracts greater than $1 million, compared to 18 for the same period last year
* 242 contracts greater than $200,000, up 16 percent over the fourth quarter last year
* Cognos announces Global Strategic Alliance with IBM
* Major Cognos 8 wins at Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, BC Hydro, BUPA, Georgia Department of Education, Nestle Suisse S.A., Public Works and Government Services Canada, San Diego City Schools, and State of Ohio Department of Administrative Services