Business intelligence suppliers must make systems more pervasive in the enterprise

Double-digit growth in the business intelligence (BI) market is over as the industry enters a state of flux following supplier consolidation, increasing maturity and price erosion, says analyst Gartner.

But the market could be saved if suppliers enable business intelligence to become pervasive among business users, by making it user-friendly, collaborative and process-driven.

Gartner said worldwide BI growth rates in 2007 were lower than the previous year, at 12.5%, and will move into single-digits to £3.5bn by 2011. This will be made up with compound annual growth rates of 8.6%.

Gartner analyst Dan Sommer said, "Large suppliers will drive increased usage, while new BI suppliers will emerge introducing innovative technology and products to demonstrate differentiation, and to fill the gaps in larger suppliers' product lines."

The acquisitions by Oracle (Hyperion), SAP (Business Objects, still pending) and IBM (Cognos, still pending) in 2007 were disrupters for the market, said Gartner.