LAS VEGAS, NV, September 28, 2006 -- Some of corporate America’s top IT executives say they plan to dedicate more of their IT budget in the next year to business intelligence (BI) tools to help their companies run leaner and more efficient business operations. The survey was conducted this week during Computerworld’s Business Intelligence Perspectives conference, the industry’s top event for CIOs and CTOs who gathered to address how to best to leverage analytical and data collecting systems to improve the corporations they serve.

Approximately 86 percent of the conference attendees participating in the survey said they have earmarked a portion of their IT budget to BI solutions in the coming year. Within that investment, 79 percent said their largest BI allocation would be to end-user query/reporting/analysis; 11 percent said the money would go towards packaged data mart/warehouse solutions. Moreover, 53 percent said developing a better BI infrastructure and company solution is the most important BI-related issue in the coming year, while 26 percent said performance improvement through use of analytics is most important.

While 37 percent of those surveyed said BI was currently a top-three priority in their organization, underinvestment remains the biggest barrier to optimal BI implementation. Another 27 percent said their business teams lag their IT teams on aggressive adoption while 24 percent said their IT teams lag their business teams on aggressive adoption.

“BI is important in terms of predictive analysis and going into the next phase where you take results and move it back to the business operation, said Deli Patel, director of BI systems and information management for Time/Warner Retail Sales and Marketing (a Time Warner company). “BI is not just reporting and collecting data, it’s having to apply the intelligence and improving the business process.”

Computerworld’s Business Intelligence Perspectives Conference came to a close Wednesday after the nation’s top BI thought leaders gathered to discuss the most critical BI strategies in this sector. The industry’s leading event for business intelligence, the conference took place Sept. 25-27 at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas.

Honorees were also announced for Computerworld’s “Best Practices in Business Intelligence Awards,” at a gala ceremony held at the conclusion of the event. (For more information, visit http://www.biperspectives.com/awards for complete announcement and list of winners.)

Several headliners representing top companies in the business intelligence and data management sector shared their knowledge and analysis. These presenters guided participants with first-hand experience in understanding and addressing the critical business challenges for BI success and implementation of Business Performance Management (BPM) methodologies.

They also discussed practical strategies for planning, designing and building the BI infrastructure as well as developing technologies and the latest tools and applications in BI management.

For more information on this and next year’s Business Intelligence Perspectives conference, go to http://www.biperspectives.com.

About Computerworld

Computerworld, the Voice of IT, is recognized worldwide as the premier source for news, information and opinion on the critical technology and management issues affecting senior technology professionals. Computerworld’s award-winning weekly publication, Computerworld.com Web site, focused conference series and custom research form the hub of the world’s largest (58-edition) global IT media network. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 awards, including the 2004 and 2006 Magazine of the Year Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Computerworld has an online audience of over 1.1 million unique monthly visitors (Omniture) and a total print audience of 1,337,000 (IntelliQuest CIMS Spring 2006). Computerworld is on the Web at www.computerworld.com.

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