Block and Tackle Issues Dominate the BI Agenda

When it comes to business intelligence these days, much of the conversation tends to focus on mobile computing and Big Data. But while these topics are growing in relevancy, a new survey from Dresner Advisory Services shows that IT organizations are a lot more concerned about technologies that help drive more immediate value from BI investments.

The technology areas that the 630 survey respondents cited as their primary areas of focus were integration with operational processes and data mining/advanced analytics, both of which have been block and tackle BI issues for years. Much farther down the list were technologies related to mobile computing and Big Data.

According to Howard Dresner, president and chief research officer for Dresner Advisory Services, the survey results show that as a whole, IT organizations are still struggling with deriving value from their BI investments. As such, it may be a while before they turn their attention to new technologies such as tablet PCs and Big Data. After all, it’s hard to justify investments in additional technology areas when you have not quite mastered the fundamentals yet.

In fact, Dresner worries that too many IT organizations are still approaching BI in a parochial fashion that may put too much emphasis on a particular silo. Granted, IT organizations should focus on projects of limited scope when it comes to getting value out of BI, but at the same time they need to keep in mind a larger overall BI strategy. Otherwise, BI across the company will quickly become fragmented across a range of incompatible tools, a scenario that already appears to be playing out.

Interestingly enough, Dresner says the overall survey suggests that small to medium enterprises are being more aggressive about BI than their larger brethren. Whether this will ultimately give them a strategic advantage remains to be seen, but we all know that information is power.

Click through for nine important technologies affecting business intelligence.

The origin of the software is not that critical.

Distribution methodology not all that critical either.

Not that big an issue just yet.

Integration of BI and transaction processing starting to climb.

Interest is starting to climb.

BI is becoming a team sport.

A real need for BI speed.

It’s all about gaining insight.

And the data needs to actually mean something to the business.