Executive Q&A: Solver's Nils Rasmussen talks BI360 Cloud, Microsoft and the channel

Today Solver, Inc. announced BI360 Cloud, a multi-tenant Azure-based version of the company's corporate performance management (CPM) solutions.  

Nils Rasmussen, Chief Executive Officer with the Los Angeles-based company, discusses the launch, the channel, and what he'd like Satya Nadella to know.

MSDynamicsWorld: What business challenges do BI360 and BI360 Cloud answer?

Nils Rasmussen: BI360 is a corporate performance management solution. It's targeted at financial professionals and accountants and offers depth in financial reporting, consolidation, budgeting, forecasting. [BI360 Cloud] is the same product as BI360, with the exact same user interface. The difference is that it will have a multi-tenant architecture, which will make it easier to upgrade and maintain customers. It's hosted and managed by Solver, so customers don't have to install or upgrade anything themselves.

Everything will sit on Microsoft Azure. It will offer 99.9 percent uptime and be part of Azure security. BI360 Cloud is scalable if you suddenly need more processing power.

The software will launch in two phases: cloud reporting first, and then six to eight weeks later, budgeting. But it's the same core technology and source code.  

How would you describe the demand for a cloud version of BI360?

I think the vast majority of all companies are now in hybrid mode. They have some of their solutions in the cloud, like an online CRM solution or Salesforce.com. Then, for instance, the Dynamics ERP system is sitting on-premise.

Of course, that's just three systems. Most small- or ...