Business Intelligence: Growth but Is It Really Delivering
July 4, 2008
The fireworks have started in rural Kentucky. Oh, wait. That’s the neighbors firing shotguns at squirrels. Think of it as a way to give squirrels a fighting change.
Amidst the gun fire, I was chugging through my trust news reader and came across two stories about business intelligence. Both are well written and in a way complementary.
The IDC Business Intelligence Study
The first essay was by a solid journalist, Doug Henchen, who writes for Intelligent Enterprise. “IDC Report See Steady Growth for BI, Pent-Up Demand for Analytics” summarizes data about the business intelligence market or “BI” for short. You can read the full essay here. (Note: the url is a complex one, which often means a story can be tough to locate after a few days. Read Mr. Henchen’s article promptly. please.)
The essay is lengthy, and it is not possible to summarize it. Mr. Henchen crams a large amount of information into this two-page post. For me, the most important point in the article was:
Another technology seeing increased demand is text mining… with applications blossoming in areas such as voice-of-the-customer analysis. Vendors including Business Objects, SAS and SPSS have responded with recent acquisitions and product releases aimed at combining text mining and data mining techniques. The two camps of structured and unstructured data analysis remain very separate. It’s important for vendors to respond because if the products aren’t there, it makes it harder for practitioners to invest in the technology. [Some minor edits for readability made. SEA]
This observation underscores the assault on enterprise search vendors that users and business intelligence vendors are now making. Enterprise search is in a “circle the wagons” mode with significant pressure on high profile vendors from many quarters. Now business intelligence vendors see an opportunity to push applications that may be perceived as higher value.
One of the highlights of the essay is charts. Mr. Henchen has reproduced graphics, presumably from the for-fee report. Here’s an example:
So business intelligence is growing. Good news in a sinking economic ship.
The Naked CIO Has a Different View
IT Director published an essay by Naked CIO called “Business Misintelligence.” You can read this essay here. (Note: another crazy url, so the document may go walkabout. Peruse it promptly.)
Mr. Naked asserts:
If you do not understand enterprise data, if you have no concept of an enterprise data model for your organization, you have no right to spend large sums on any data analysis, data mining or business intelligence tools
The bulk of the essay addresses the common mistakes professionals make when acquiring and using business intelligence tools. For example, dirty data are common, so the outputs of the business intelligence system can be off the mark.
What Gives?
On one hand, the business intelligence sector is growing. Business professionals need weapons to slay economic dragons. Analytics and better access to information are finding a market. Unfortunately some of the buyers don’t know much about math or how business intelligence tools can be best utilized.
So, vendors are making money; customers are making mistakes.
Where does search fit into this paradox? Search is likely to be pushed into the closet. Customers are not happy with enterprise search as deployed in man organizations. The aggrieved buyers of expensive systems are looking for a silver bullet, a digital Sir Gawain to kill the evil beasties that consume a company’s revenue.
My view is that business intelligence is just another umbrella concept, and most customers will fall out of love quickly. Business intelligence requires an investment in data, knowledge of statistics, and specialists to keep the reports flowing. Most US executives do not have the training, patience, or desire to tackle these tasks. Sorry, no silver bullet. Just more puncture wounds when the technology bites back.
Stephen Arnold, July 4, 2008
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