Causata is a BI startup that carved out its own angle on analytics, an IT phenomenon that has transformed into a massive trend within a relatively short timeframe. The company offers data-munching software, available either as a cloud-based app or via on-premise license, that in its own words is “purpose-built for taking actions.”

The platform covers a rather large portion of datasets’ lifecycle – from aggregation to storing the data, structuring and visualizing it. Causata’s main audience is advertisers dealing with consumer behavior, and it set its eyes on expanding within this market.

This week Paul Wahl was appointed as Causata’s new chief executive officer. Wahl is an industry veteran that has an impressive portfolio of firms that have seen explosive growth during his tenure, most notable SAP America. There he managed to increase the software maker’s revenue by 500 percent to $2.5 billion in 8 years, and similar success stories can be found at Siebel and QlikTech.

“The addition of an industry heavyweight like Paul Wahl is a watershed moment in our company’s evolution,” said Paul Phillips, Founder and COO of Causata. “His industry experience, expertise and track record at developing category defining software companies make him an ideal CEO for us.”

The data startup is hoping to eventually reach the sort of momentum SAP is maintaining today. The latter is strengthening its cloud portfolio in an effort to adapt to the industry-wide shift sweeping through the traditional BI world today, and revealed its latest product just 24 hours ago. SAP Travel OnDemand is a mobile platform that’s meant to help travelling executives to keep up with their expensive and other corporate info, and has been introduced alongside an update to SAP ByDesign. The enhancements follow a similar direction: extended iOS support, in addition to some functionality tweaks.