When IBM Corp. officially acquired Cognos Inc. in early 2008, the deal raised eyebrows based on the purchase price of $4.9 billion for a business intelligence software company. But now that data has become so valuable, to the point where everyone from baseball teams to social media sites depend on it as the lifeblood of their competitive advantage, the price doesn’t look quite so high anymore.

“All of this stuff has become data driven. If you don’t want to embrace it, you get beat,” said Marc Altshuller (pictured), general manager, Business Analytics Division, at IBM.

Altshuller paid a visit to theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, and answered questions from hosts Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and James Kobielus (@jameskobielus), during the IBM Fast Track Your Data event in Munich, Germany. They discussed how the Cognos acquisition evolved into IBM’s current business analytics portfolio and how the value of corporate data is starting to be viewed as a key bottom-line asset. (* Disclosure below.)

Cognos has emerged as one of four key business analytics offerings for IBM, as described by Altshuller. The others are Watson Analytics, Watson Analytics for Social Media and Planning Analytics.

Dashboard is key attraction for customers

A major attraction for IBM customers is the Cognos Dashboard, which can steer them toward information that is useful and accurate, according to Altshuller.

“For the business user, the dashboard becomes a piece of glass to them. That glass is able to call services that they don’t have to be proficient in, they just want to use them,” he said.

Altshuller is beginning to see situations where data valuations are being included in bankruptcy proceedings. “I have heard of cases where companies have put data on their balance sheet,” said the IBM executive. “It’s not mainstream at this point.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of the IBM Fast Track Your Data event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Fast Track Your Data. Neither IBM nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE