The BI bandwagon

As a result, interest in business intelligence (BI) is on the up and up, and so is the number of vendors promising BI.

The surge in demand has prompted all manner of vendors, including `traditional` ERP providers, database software makers and desktop operating system and productivity vendors to jump on the bandwagon.Many of these are now offering solutions under the BI banner.

Spoiling the party

Will the increased participation of other vendors in the BI space lead to a level of commoditisation?

This can only truly be said to be occurring at the entry level of the market. It is true that the number of vendors competing for market share has put pressure on pricing models.

But at the same time, the market for BI solutions is also expanding. It`s the typical product acceptance curve, where advancements result in more affordable and better offerings for the client, with a wider range of options.

However, we should note that what many vendors call BI is essentially simple query and reporting software.

Moreover, it is often built on a foundation that may include poorly integrated, incomplete data quality and data management capabilities, with a low level of analytic capability provided by relatively simple algorithms.

While low-level systems have their place, true BI demands a more holistic and in-depth approach, such as that provided by specialist software makers.

How big is your BI?

A true BI vendor`s concept of this field goes beyond the narrow definition of business intelligence - or the analysis of past events.

SAS`s concept `Beyond BI` offers data management and predictive analytic capabilities. This sets out to tell an organisation not just where it has been, but to identify problems early on and help managers to figure out what to do next.

It delivers the foresight and understanding that is required to deliver competitive advantage. So while query and reporting constitutes an aspect of BI, it is not an end in itself.

This approach might be termed `little BI`, whereas `big BI` is a complete process that also delivers a more granular instance of BI tools to various users within the organisation. There is no doubt that the demand for BI has increased significantly in recent years and there are more vendors than ever before offering a variety of solutions with greater options available to address the specific needs of different clients.

However, at the upper end of the scale, BI remains an advanced technology that is the domain of specialised software vendors.