Practitioners Predict BI Will Keep Growing in 2010

January 14, 2010 – In a new user survey, a majority of respondents expect business intelligence to continuously grow worldwide, though most remain unsure about the value of analyzing data from social media sites. The global survey was conducted by Baseline Consulting and Kognitio, a provider of BI and data warehousing solutions.

Of the respondents, 63 percent are undecided about the value of data collected from social media sites to help them understand more about their organization or customers. Another 23 percent called social media overrated. Only 14 percent said they want to incorporate data from Facebook, Twitter and other sites as part of their ongoing data analysis efforts.

But 29 percent said they are under pressure to justify the money they have spent on BI projects and are looking for "quick wins or new opportunities." Just over a third said the speed to delivery of BI projects will be imperative in 2010. The need to test, evaluate and deploy new systems in mere weeks is a noticeable change from previous years, where BI projects were normally expected to take months to implement correctly, and where obtaining usable information could take a year or more.

The survey confirms that BI remains top of mind with business executives and end users, says Jill Dyché, Partner of Baseline Consulting. “They're thinking of new ways to exploit existing capabilities,” she says. “As BI pervades different lines of business, a growing and diverse set of requirements invites a new set of conversations around what capabilities do and don't exist."

Read John Adams recent discussion of security issues related to social media.

Read about other technology trends here.