Cognos aims to stem an impending business intelligence
(BI) skills crisis with the launch of an academy to train 8,000 BI
consultants by 2009.
“We’ve found that the consultants who have the wisdom,
experience and BI skills needed in the current marketplace are
concentrated within the older age groups,” says Graham Walter,
vice-president for EMEA.
“There is a severe shortage of skilled BI consultants amongst
the 25-35-year-old band.”
The Cognos course, based around the BI specialist’s own suite,
will be a mixture of self-study and classroom training.
Gartner predicts the BI market will grow 7.4% a year, rising to
£1.6bn in 2009. It recommends companies should create their own
Business Intelligence Competency Centre (BICC) to ensure they
extract maximum value from BI. Business people throughout the
company, as well business analysts and IT people should all
contribute to the BICC.
The Cognos Academy will be available by invitation to customers
setting up their own BICCs.
By 2009, Gartner predicts that 60% of global 2000 firms and
governments will have formed BICCs.