Even last year's consolidation ofbusiness intelligence(BI) vendors and
rising panic about aneconomic meltdownhave failed to quell
the strong growth rate for BI platforms, according to market
analystGartner
.
Demand for BI platforms worldwide will reach $5.8bn in 2008, up
11.2% on last year. Growth is forecast at 8.1% right through to
2012, creating a $7.7bn market by 2012.
Gartner analysts say recession didn't hurt BI revenues because
of the high priority the platforms have for CIOs. In a worldwide
survey of 1,500 CIOs last year, Gartner Executive Programs found
that BI was top priority.
"BI has been top priority for three years running," said Dan
Sommer, senior research analyst for Gartner. It is almost
recession-proof, he said. "CIOs are actually looking to increase
their budgets for BI by about 11% this year."
Despite BI being a top priority for 2009 and beyond, Gartner
expects a slowdown in growth as a natural consequence of product
and vendor consolidation, he said. "Last year saw a turbulent
shakeout of BI vendors, with some notable acquisitions," said
Somner.
Business Objects
(bought by SAP), Cognos (IBM)
and
Hyperion
(Oracle) were the most notable acquisitions, creating a market
dominated by these three and
Microsoft, which
continues to expand in this area.
Sommer predicted a commoditisation of BI across the board,
particularly in the fields of query, online analytical processing
and reporting. However, newer, innovative BI capabilities may
offset the lowering of prices. This could broaden the reach of BI,
while commoditisation of some features made it more affordable to a
wider audience of users.