IBM has completed its $5bn (£2.5bn) acquisition of business intelligence (BI) firm Cognos.

Big Blue will announce its plans for the firm on Wednesday.

The purchase will give IBM a strong presence in the business intelligence market – analysing information to improve a firm's efficiency – plugging a previously large gap in its services.

The move allows IBM to challenge SAP and Oracle directly in the BI and performance management markets.

IBM is not expected to tamper with the Cognos model, accoding to a report by Gartner.

"IBM does not need to integrate Cognos with any other BI platform," says the report.

IBM's move follows further consolidation in the BI market, after Oracle bought Hyperion and SAP acquired Business Objects.