May 9, 2013 – Justin Kern, senior editor at Information Management, reports on the makeover of BI. He notes that according to a new report from Saugatuck Technology, "the potential of business intelligence applications and operations in the cloud has been, to this point, 'long on promise,' though changes to how business data is analyzed and accessed are rippling through enterprises from new on-demand capabilities and interest."

He reports "Saugatuck forecasts a big shift to more business intelligence in the cloud in the near future. According to survey results in the report, enterprise preferences for BI will drastically transition from on-premise to some variation of cloud deployment or as-a-service over the next four years. Purely on-premise business software is the preferred path for 50 percent of respondents, though that number dips to 18 percent for 2015 and lower still to 13 percent by 2016, according to Saugatuck’s figures. At the same time, approximately 40-to-60 percent of enterprises will opt for a hybrid on-premise and in the cloud application path from 2014 to 2016. And wholly cloud-based solutions are in the plans for about 10 percent of enterprises as of next year, but that expectation rises to 39 percent by 2016, according to Saugatuck."

Despite projected growth, hesitation, challenges and the changing face of BI in the cloud are at the heart of a new report authored by Saugatuck Analyst Bruce Guptill, entitled, “Saugatuck’s Boundary-free Enterprise Model: Concept, Impact and Guidance.” Saugatuck defines the “boundary-free enterprise” as an amalgamation of analytics, cloud, mobile and social technology, a collection of emerging trends that goes by other names across research firms.

He notes "on its own, business intelligence implementations have been challenged by issues such as data accuracy, adoption and cost, though BI has settled into more of a mature role with enterprise data over the last few years. Saugatuck cites that many BI functions can be accomplished in spreadsheets, as those maligned-yet-entry-level solutions have grown better at functions such as direct integration of Web queries or graphing, dismissing the overt need for a new BI solution in the cloud."

Read the entire article at http://www.information-management.com/news/the-makeover-of-bi-in-the-new-expanding-enterprise-10024380-1.html

Reference

Kern, J. "The Makeover of BI in the New, Expanding Enterprise," May 9, 2013, Information Management, at URL http://www.information-management.com/news/the-makeover-of-bi-in-the-new-expanding-enterprise-10024380-1.html