We’ve highlighted several trend predictions for business intelligence and analytics for 2010; now we’ll look at Ventana Research’s 2009 Business Technology Priorities in Review. According to Ventana, their look back “offers not only a history, but some lessons learned as well, and some food for thought as we enter 2010.” Ventana’s perspective covers a wide range of business technologies, but we’ll focus on their observations regarding business intelligence and analytics. Innovation Expands Scope of Business Intelligence, states 2009 was the year business intelligence tools moved from the exclusive realm of business analysts to being used by many roles across the organization. The resulting challenges included:
- New users needed to access different and more diverse sources of data;
- Some users needed more frequently updated data;
- The potential of business intelligence served as “a strong motivator driving the wider adoption…”
As we move into 2010, location context information, mobile devices and “increasingly impatient customers” will have significant impact on business intelligence.
Ventana has put forth a large library of 2009 assessments; here are some quick tidbits on other pieces related to business intelligence and analytics:
- Technology Trends to Help Business Prosper: The Most Valuable Business Process: Performance Management. “2009 drove home the realization: Business today is too competitive, and the consequences too severe, to be run according to vague expectations and without clearly defined paths for attaining important goals.”
- New Approaches in Using Technology: Cloud Computing for Business. “The primary driver for moving to the Internet cloud, of course, was, is and will be the need to reduce information technology costs.”
- Managing in Difficult Times: Kicking the Spreadsheet Habit. “It is past time for organizations to admit that the problems spreadsheets produce – repeated and numerous errors, wasted time and unreliable information for decision-making, to name the most egregious – are too destructive of good business practices to allow use to continue.”
- Managing in Difficult Times: Risk Management. “Most [businesses] scrambled to buttress against it [risk], but while everyone is worried about risk, it isn’t easy to see what to do. What we do know is that the answer is not primarily reacting – to respond better, organizations have to prepare better. They should realize that managing enterprise risk is a proactive, enterprise-wide activity and get all the functions and business units involved in identifying risks and determining how best to control and respond to them.
As you assess your business intelligence and analytics successes of 2009, check out Ventana’s thoughts on how business technology can position you for success in 2010.
