Business intelligence (BI) can be considered critical to the very existence of most organisations. However, efforts to gather such intelligence--commonly defined as collecting, consolidating and analysing information about the organisation's operational processes, financial situation, business performance and other indicators--are hampered by inconsistency among data sources, problems with data quality, an often cobbled-together approach to BI systems, and a lack of clarity about how to take the knowledge gleaned from BI initiatives and turn it into practical and positive changes to the business.
The purpose of this research was three-fold: to explore whether and how companies are using BI to improve their businesses; to identify the obstacles they encounter in its use; and predict how BI will evolve in the next ten years. Relying on insights from industry experts, researchers and consultants who have identified best practices for BI, this white paper, sponsored by SAP and Intel, identifies four main trends that are shaping the ways that companies are using and will use BI to improve their operations.
