Lulu to Use Birst to Make Faster, More Informed Business Decisions Based on the 'Big Picture'

Birst's On-Demand Business Intelligence Solution to Combine and Analyze Data From Multiple Applications


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - November 2, 2010) - Birst, the leading provider of on-demand solutions for business intelligence (BI) and analytics, today announced that it will help Lulu, the leader in open publishing, make faster, more informed decisions by combining and analyzing data generated by multiple applications.

"To better understand the effects of our business decisions, we needed an easier way to look at the big picture," said Vinod Tiwari, Business Intelligence Manager, Lulu. "With Birst, we'll be able to quickly merge information across applications to make faster decisions based on significant trends in customer behavior and sales of products and services."

Through its open publishing platform, accessible via www.lulu.com, Lulu helps individuals, businesses, and publishers create and sell more books. It offers both physical and electronic formats and full distribution to third-party channels, including Amazon.com and the iBookstore -- benefits that have attracted more than 1 million creators from around the world. Lulu will use Birst to combine data from salesforce.com, which tracks the company's account management activities, and PostgreSQL, a database management system that provides information related to sales and revenue. Omniture, a web analytics tool, will contribute data used for web traffic trend analysis. This combined information will enable Lulu to spot trends and make quick decisions.

Lulu chose Birst because of its ease-of-use and extensive built-in functionality, as well as the overall maturity of its solution.

"Birst provides faster, easier access to vital information, as well as increased scalability and regular product updates," said Brad Peters, CEO of Birst. "That all adds up to a tremendous savings of time and resources that can then be focused on running a company's core business."

About Birst
Birst™ is the leading provider of on-demand business intelligence solutions. Birst brings the benefits of fact-based decision-making to a much broader audience by making it affordable, fast, and easy to use. Birst is designed to support users of all sizes -- from individuals to groups and entire companies, so that everyone can benefit from greater insight into their business. More information is available at www.birst.com

About Lulu
Lulu (www.lulu.com) is empowering individuals, publishers, educators and businesses all over the world to publish and sell more books. Through its Internet-based creation tools, retail site and global distribution system, Lulu helps creators make and monetize content in a variety of physical and electronic formats connects them to buyers on Lulu.com and in third-party channels, including Amazon.com and the iBookstore, all around the world. Authors retain complete creative, copyright and pricing control and keep 80 percent of their revenue when their works sell.

Contact Information:

For more information, contact:
Barbara Lewis
Birst
marketing(at)birst.com
(415) 644-5400