Business Intelligence

Major acquisitions and increased deployments are pushying bsiness intelligence to the forefront of IT strategy. Here's a look at what works—and what hurdles remain.

Business Intelligence: Maturing Steadily

WHAT IT IS:
Software and tools designed to transform a company's myriad forms of information into a controllable, consumable format that can be used to manage business performance.

KEY PLAYERS:
Business Objects (just acquired by SAP), Cognos, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Oracle (which bought Hyperion this year), SAP, SAS Institute WHAT'S HAPPENING: The new millennium has provided good traction for the BI market as tools have matured significantly and options for integration with other IT tools have expanded. As the technology has matured, consolidation has been the natural progression.

Two significant acquisitions have been announced this year and additional merger talks are ongoing. Many large enterprises remain in a transitory stage in their BI deployments, however, as they attempt to expand the scope of BI in their organizations and expand its use to larger groups.

MARKET SIZE:
$4.7 billion in 2006; projected to grow to $6.4 billion by 2010 (IDC)

Next Page: Ouch! BI's Varied Pain Points