Thursday, 21 March 2013

How Important is Business Intelligence for Companies in 2013?

By Joseph B. Kappernick


Are you familiar with the CIA or Central Intelligence Agency? You've probably heard it several times in movies and TV shows. It is an agency that specializes in investigating possible terrorist attacks in the US and getting intel at the same time. This agency is very important for the U.S. government and they fund it well too. In business, companies like to invest in something similar called business intelligence and analytics. This information helps protect businesses from making costly mistakes.

The IT sector has several fast growing sectors but one of the fastest growing is business intelligence and analytics. According to the IDC, researchers have gathered information concluding that this sector will earn more than $50 billion by 2016. In addition, there will be more than $200 billion spent on the technology segment from 2013 to 2016.

The figures can look astonishing but this is no longer a surprise to chief intelligence officers out there. The huge increase of IT expenditures is due to the investment to business intelligence and analytics. Getting such information has been never cheap; companies need to invest in the technology needed to gather the information. In the long run, companies with the right consumer data will end up having a more successful business. Thus, BI and analytics are something companies must invest in.

How much will companies be overspending on business intelligence this year? The figure points to 20 percent which equates to $40 billion. To give you an idea on what companies will be overspending on, here are the areas of focus:

* Vendor pricing on software licenses will inflate. Hence, companies will pay for the software at a value higher than the fair market price.

* Companies will overspend on business intelligence implementation projects. In the coming years, implementations will be more complex and expensive.

* The maintenance, subscription and support costs will add to the expenses. Plus, these rates will most likely increase every year too.

* There will be overspending on enhancing the functionality of the business intelligence system. Companies will always want to upgrade it.

This begs the question, will companies be willing to overspend on business intelligence and analytics? Most likely, they are. BI and analytics are very powerful tools for any company and it's a worthwhile investment. However, to optimize its benefits, companies must be prepared to pay or shall I say, overpay.

On the other hand, a wise company can always develop a strategy to prevent overspending. Before paying for renewals and improvements, companies can always do some research on the fair market prices. After all, their current BI and analytics should help them gain insight to save on projects and expenditures.




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