Finding 1

Finding 1
The BI Learning Curve Has Just Begun
Business intelligence use grows considerably as companies gain experience with this technology. Nearly 90 percent of our respondents use BI, and most others will probably start doing so in the next two years. Still, there are relatively few BI veterans out there—companies with more than half a decade of experience using business intelligence to analyze data on customers, competitors, internal processes or financials. BI veterans use BI for more reasons and provide BI tools to staff more than BI novices do. In particular, many more veterans use BI to analyze customer data. Projecting forward, that means BI usage will grow broader—there'll be more kinds of BI applications—and deeper within organizations in the coming years. Analysts who predict the "democratization" of BI appear correct.