Business Application Research Center — BARC — is a leading independent software industry analyst delivering information to more than 1000 customers each year. For more than ten years, BARC has specialized in core research areas including Data Management and Business Intelligence. More than 30 highly-qualified professionals deliver 100% unbiased and well-founded knowledge about the software market with software evaluations, conferences, market research and consulting. BARC has offices in the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and partners worldwide.

Carsten Bange is the founder and managing director of the Business Application Research Center (BARC). He holds a PhD in management information systems, is a frequent speaker at IT conferences and has been BARC's lead analyst and consultant on business intelligence and data warehousing strategy, architecture and technology selection for more than 10 years.

Barney Finucane has extensive experience in the BI industry. As a consultant he has supported companies in the chemical, energy and manufacturing sector with the introduction of BI software. As product manager of the company MIS, he was responsible for the front-end products Plain and onVision, and kept a keen eye on projects and tools from other vendors. His areas of speciality include tool selection, quality assurance for BI, data warehouse strategies and their architectures.

Nigel Pendse, an independent industry analyst, is The BI Verdict's editorial consultant. He founded The OLAP Report in 1995 and was lead analyst until its evolution into The BI Verdict in 2009. Before becoming independent, he had worked as a user of BI products and then in a variety of roles as a BI vendor since 1973. To ensure neutrality, he does not invest or trade in any BI vendors, and turns down any work that would lead to a conflict of interest (for example, invitations to serve on the boards of BI companies). He has spoken at many conferences all over the world and is popular for his forthright, irreverent views.

Steffen Vierkorn is co-author of the BARC reports, "Data Warehousing and Data Integration" and "Business Intelligence". He specializes in management information systems with a particular emphasis on business intelligence front-ends and web applications. He also advises companies on software selection.