For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's BI Maturity Assessment Tool  (85 KB XLS)

by Boris Evelson, Connie Moore, Rob Karel, James G. Kobielus, Charles Coit, September 11, 2009

Business intelligence is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information used to enable more effective strategic, tactical, and operational insight and decision-making. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Business Case for BI: Now More Critical Than Ever

by Boris Evelson, August 25, 2009

Even as IT reduces or holds budgets steady in many enterprise software sectors, business intelligence (BI) initiatives remain front and center in most enterprise business and IT agendas. As the demand for pervasive and comprehensive BI applications increases, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Business Intelligence (BI) Polishes Its Crystal Ball

IBM's SPSS Deal Nudges Analytics Industry Toward Deeper Predictive Focus

by James G. Kobielus, Boris Evelson, Leslie Owens, August 18, 2009

Enterprise strategic, tactical, and operational decision-makers want to understand past and present activity but also anticipate the future to avoid being blindsided by seemingly hidden events. How do companies build a competitive "crystal ball"? They . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Latest BI Adoption Trends - Still Ripe In Opportunities Across Regions, Company Sizes, And Industries  (566 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, August 6, 2009

This set of data charts examines BI adoption trends from Forrester's recent Enterprise And SMB Software Survey, North America And Europe, Q4 2008.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Fit Your Data Architecture To Your Analytical Needs

Forrester's Business Intelligence Data Architecture Decision Tool Helps You Make The Right Choice

by Boris Evelson, Rob Karel, July 9, 2009

Delivering business intelligence (BI) effectively depends on a data management architecture that fits your reporting and analytical requirements. Unfortunately, many data warehousing (DW) and BI professionals overlook the need to optimize an end-to-end . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

SharePoint And BI Survey Q&A: The Last Mile To Business Intelligence Users

The Forrester Perspective On SharePoint And Microsoft BI Survey Responses

by Boris Evelson, May 19, 2009

By nature, business intelligence (BI) transforms raw, meaningless data into meaningful, tangible, and actionable information. But successful BI requires multiple components and steps that must be executed in perfect choreography. While the data sourcing, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

To BW Or Not To BW?

Migration Paths Are The Burning Question For SAP BI Users

by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, May 13, 2009

The January 2008 merger of SAP and Business Objects created numerous opportunities and challenges for business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) professionals. The good news was that SAP now offers several leading, best-of-breed BI and DW products. . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Enterprise BI Survey Q&A: BI Professionals Recognize The Need To Focus Beyond Tools

Forrester's Perspective On BI Survey Client Responses

by Boris Evelson, Rob Karel, March 17, 2009

Business intelligence (BI) remains a top priority for many enterprises, but delivering successful BI capabilities goes far beyond just the tools and enabling technologies. Historically, foundational BI best practices in data governance, data quality management, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

BI Belt Tightening In A Tough Economic Climate

Practical Advice Applicable To Any Economic Condition

by Boris Evelson, February 20, 2009

As an economic downturn becomes a sobering reality, enterprises look for various ways to increase revenues and reduce costs. While overall IT budgets become targets for cost cutting, business intelligence (BI) applications and infrastructure need not . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Latest BI Adoption Trends In Enterprises: Bright Future, But Off To A Slow Start  (446 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, January 12, 2009

Our latest data shows that enterprises are slowly but surely beginning to adopt the newest BI features like open source, end-user self-service, and search-BI convergence.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Business Intelligence Data Architecture Decision Tool  (130 KB XLS)

by Boris Evelson, Rob Karel, January 12, 2009

This decision tool will help I&KM professionals evaluate their options for logical data architectures to support Business Intelligence, such as physical BI repositories vs. federated data access to operational data stores, enterprise data warehouses . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Current State Of BI Adoption In Enterprises: Plenty Of Room For Growth And Improvement   (425 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, December 18, 2008

Current State Of BI Adoption In Enterprises: Plenty Of Room For Growth And Improvement

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Topic Overview: Business Intelligence

by Boris Evelson, November 21, 2008

Business intelligence (BI) is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information. It allows business users to make informed business decisions with real-time data that can . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

OLAP: In Fashion Or Old-Fashioned?

by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, November 7, 2008

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a core component of a complex business intelligence (BI) architectural stack. Even as vendors begin to explore alternative technologies for "slicing" and "dicing" large data sets, OLAP engines, servers, and models . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Implementing Your Business Intelligence Solutions Center

Mitigate Common Pitfalls To Optimize The Return On Your BI Investment

by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, November 4, 2008

The increasing pervasiveness, complexity, and criticality of today's business intelligence (BI) applications have led enterprises to recognize the need for something more formal than a traditional IT support center to maximize returns on their BI and . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

I&KM Pros Brace For DW Industry Consolidation

Microsoft's DATAllegro Acquisition Is The Tipping Point

by James G. Kobielus, Boris Evelson, August 4, 2008

Many information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals consider the data warehouse (DW) appliance niche as distinct from — and a bit less mature than — the market for enterprise-grade DW solutions. There is still some validity in that viewpoint, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Business Intelligence Platforms, Q3 2008

by Boris Evelson, July 31, 2008

In Forrester's 151-criteria evaluation of enterprise business intelligence (BI) platform vendors, we found that IBM Cognos and SAP Business Objects maintain their leadership positions, while Oracle and SAS Institute move into leadership positions in enterprise . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

BI Workspaces: BI Without Borders

Solving An Age-Old BI Dilemma: Enabling End User Self-Service

by Boris Evelson, June 23, 2008

For years, traditional business intelligence (BI) technologies have provided tools for reporting, analysis, and visualization of information. While these technologies continue to remain the core staples of enterprise-grade BI solutions, Forrester recognizes . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Many Users Are Satisfied With Product Offerings From Mainstream BI Vendors  (396 KB PPT)

by Boris Evelson, June 12, 2008

Forrester surveyed 89 BI users as a part of the Wave evaluation of enterprise reporting and analysis platforms, expected to publish in Q3 2008. These data charts highlight the results from that user survey.

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How The Convergence Of Business Rules, BPM, And BI Will Drive Business Optimization

by Boris Evelson, Colin Teubner, John R. Rymer, May 14, 2008

With change endemic, business flexibility paramount, and the lines between strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making blurring, information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros must find new application architectures for a new generation . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Search + BI = Unified Information Access

Combining Unstructured And Structured Info Delivers Business Insight

by Boris Evelson, Matthew Brown, May 5, 2008

Search and business intelligence (BI) really are two sides of the same coin. Enterprise search enables people to access unstructured content like documents, blog and wiki entries, and emails stored in repositories across their organizations. BI surfaces . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Strong Partners Are Key To Successful BI Initiatives

by Boris Evelson, Tim Sheedy, February 12, 2008

Business intelligence (BI) initiatives are unlike most other enterprise software projects. They do not fit well into the traditional software development life cycle (SDLC), and are notoriously difficult to outsource. Even though many enterprises have . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Cognos Acquisition Puts IBM In Thick Of BI Race

Move Changes Competitive and Partnering Dynamics

by Boris Evelson, Paul D. Hamerman, December 27, 2007

IBM's planned acquisition of Cognos comes as little surprise following SAP's announcement to acquire Business Objects and Oracle's recent acquisition of Hyperion. IBM's move is cleaner in terms of minimizing product overlaps than the other two, but it . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Forrester BI Consulting And System Integration Vendor Selection Tool  (62 KB XLS)

by Tim Sheedy, Boris Evelson, December 27, 2007

Similar to the Forrester Wave, this provider selection tool allows a user to enter its own weightings or use Forrester's default weightings to score particular BI consulting and systems integrators and view a picture that compares the providers with one . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

SAP Changes Course With Major Acquisition

ERP Leader Accelerates Growth Strategy With Business Objects Acquisition

by Boris Evelson, Paul D. Hamerman, November 5, 2007

SAP, in a complete turnaround from its prior organic growth and "tuck-in" acquisitions strategy, announced its intention to acquire Business Objects on October 7, 2007. This move parallels similar big bang acquisitions by its application rival, Oracle, . . .