LogiXML Versus [Along with] Microsoft

SOURCE: LogiXML

While, like most people, I have become accustomed to averting my eyes from online ads, I do click a banner ad every now and again. Yesterday, this ad for Microsoft Internet Explorer caught my eye.

The heading states, “See how Internet Explorer beats other browsers. No, seriously.”

You have to love self-deprecating advertising. I found this rather amusing.

Anti-“vole” sentiments aside, I’m certainly a big fan of the Microsoft Office Suite and fondly use many of the fantastic new features that have been added over the years. For example, dynamic display of word count in Microsoft Word, both for the entire document and any highlighted text, has been helpful to me in avoiding run-on sentences.

The fact that Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is included with SQL Server at no extra charge is often viewed as another great Microsoft benefit… at least at first. Join us for our next webinar Thursday, May 31 to hear about such difficulties from Defran Systems CIO Art Khanlian. In working on the PowerPoint presentation for the session, I included the below image, thanks to Office.com clip art, to accompany Art’s comments that Microsoft, “initially seemed like a natural extension” to Defran Systems’ .NET based applications.

However, some years later…

The image seemed an ideal representation of a beautiful path that seems initially appealing. However, the path is rather lengthy and may not actually remain so appealing after you begin the long trek down it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to building comprehensive, interactive BI applications, the Microsoft stack all too often falls short.

Steve Hough, project leader – clinical and business quality, Pegasus Health, mentioned an additional appeal to the Microsoft path. “We have a Microsoft charitable licensing agreement, and we could have done what we needed to do with Microsoft products, but we needed to build an application that was easy to use for end users. Unfortunately, the output from Microsoft Reporting Services didn’t provide this for the GPVu project. SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) would have been overkill in the way it manages reporting and would have required more training for end users.”

The case study outlines what Mr. Hough was able to build with Logi Info and the success it brought to his organization. He also adds, “I’m now a LogiXML certified developer in addition to being certified and well versed in Microsoft products. Microsoft products in conjunction with LogiXML allow me to do what I do.”

Exactly. Microsoft tools have their place. But we and our clients have found that the creation of interactive, Web-based dashboards, reports, and analytics is where Microsoft tools are best relegated to a supporting role.

For more details on how LogiXML compares to Microsoft, view our recorded webinar and solution brief.

Have you worked with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services? Email me – megan.bozman@logixml.com. I’d love to hear your story, too.

Megan Bozman is director of marketing at LogiXML. Read more posts by Megan here, here, and here. And follow her on Twitter at @MeganBozman.