Where do you see BI trends going in 2010?
A trend I see happening in 2010 is a further blurring of the line between what used to be called “reporting” and what is now embodied in “dashboards” thanks to today’s visualization technologies. Years ago, when people said they wanted reports, that meant static paginated documents. Those evolved into interactive reports that were drillable. Now people think of reporting generically as information presentation, and they expect rich graphics, multi-dimensional charting and point-and-click visual exploration. It’s this combination that delivers the satisfying, user-friendly answer to age-old problems of meeting ad hoc reporting needs and speeding up peoples’ ability to manage the rivers of data that are out there now in order to monitor their everyday business performance. Now, I think your average business person feels comfortable with this dashboard style of reporting, and it is going to take BI penetration to the next level.
Larry Liang
Chief Architect, InetSoft Technology Corp.
www.inetsoft.com
Where do you see BI trends going in 2010?
As the economy continues to rebound, I expect to see an increasing number of businesses, both in the public and private sectors, expand the distribution of their data to customers, partners and the public. I call this trend customer-facing BI, and it’s a direct result of the growing familiarity with analytic technologies of employees outside of the typical IT department. Simply put, if BI tools are built with accessibility in mind, more people will use them, resulting in greater information management by customers, employees and partners alike. The advent of cloud computing has jumpstarted this revolution in accessibility and, as it becomes the norm, a larger section of the workforce will more easily access and analyze data, especially through database and platform agnostic tools, to draw meaningful conclusions to affect the bottom line. I expect to see businesses capitalize on this opportunity into 2010 and beyond.
Kevin Quinn
Vice President of Product Marketing, Information Builders
www.informationbuilders.com
Where do you see BI trends going in 2010?
In 2009 we saw that users' expectations for richer visual experiences were on the rise. This trend will continue in spades in 2010. People think visually. With the continued lean workforces, users are longing for information tools that help them "see" their information better. This won't be about more "wiggle" and "gloss" on charts, but will be about information presentation that is easy to understand and act on because it's simple but deep. The design of the information presentation will matter more than it ever has before and out of the box tool kits with no expert guidance will continue to leave users feeling confused and frustrated. Solutions that are targeted at users and their problems will be the ones for which users will be asking.
Zach Gemignani
CEO and Co-Founder, Juice Analytics
www.juiceanalytics.com
Where do you see BI trends going in 2010?
There’s long been a trend in the BI space to emphasize the power of technology: groovy gauges, flashy traffic-lighting, dynamic drill-down. But what decision-makers need to know about BI is not that it’s a must-have desktop toy, but that it’s a portal for super-quick, super-simple and super-focused performance information. Too many BI implementations have failed because the attention was on the technology and not nearly enough attention on the choice and design of the content: the performance measures or KPIs or analyses that the technology’s whole purpose is to deliver with speed and ease. So one trend I see – or at least hope to see – is that BI implementations are integrated with very deliberate and formalized performance-measurement processes that ensure the technology creates performance dashboards focused on the testing, execution and achievement of the company’s strategy.
Stacey Barr
Performance Measure Specialist
www.staceybarr.com
Where do you see BI trends going in 2010?
It’s tough being in business right now. People are being asked to do more, yet spend far less, and they’re under greater pressure to produce tangible results in less time. And the people responsible for BI implementations at their companies are no different. Moreover, the traditional rules of business intelligence have required significant expenditures and large-scale rollouts. Hardly the ingredients that spell success in today’s economy. Which is why BI, implemented on a SaaS basis, will continue to grow. Gartner analysts recently wrote they are seeing more activity for this model: "First, some business units are dissatisfied with their IT departments. Buying a managed service for their BI needs bypasses the IT department. Second, some small companies cannot afford their own data warehouse infrastructure but have large volumes of data to process for analytics. This is a growing segment of the data warehouse DBMS market." We agree. Lower implementation costs, faster implementation time and quicker time to results make a compelling argument for BI SaaS.
John Thompson
CEO, US Operations, Kognitio
www.kognitio.com
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