According to research firm Access Marketing International (AMI) Partners, the demand for business intelligence (BI) software as a stand-alone solution among North American companies is growing at a rapid pace, with as many as 600,000 small-medium businesses to deploy BI software through 2009.
But why? And why now? As Nathan Eddy of eWeek points out, AMI sees BI software as a growth category because of the “piggyback feature” of ongoing adoption and investment in ERP/CRM systems. But it goes well beyond just ERP/CRM systems. AMI believes the need to derive better, deeper insight into day-to-day operations is critical to reducing costs, and that has placed further importance on stand-alone BI systems. In fact, Nichelle McKenzie, a research analyst at AMI-Partners, believes that companies that rely on BI software reap the benefits of data integration across multiple business units and the simplicity of accessing self-service reporting and analysis.
Further supporting AMI’s claim, technology research firm Gartner reported earlier this year that by 2012, business units will control more than 40% of the BI budget and by 2010, 20% of organizations will have a software as a service BI tool in place as part of their BI portfolio.
The rail industry has seen a steep rise in demand and is gearing up to absorb further changes. As it morphs into a modern, mass-market consumer proposition and leaves behind an era of undifferentiated utility service, what can rail learn from the retail sector a great success story in contemporary business change? Features of the white paper which bear on the retail dimension include simplifying fares, introducing smartcards in major cities and selling inter-city tickets via mobile phone.
Posted by: accessories | December 17, 2009 at 04:13 AM