BI in the future ... 3

[Recce]

Good day,

Could I have some input from some of you and what you think the future of Business Intelligence may be like ?

In other words, do you think that BI will grow or does it have a limited future or no future at all ?

"We know nothing but, that what we know is not the truth..." - Me

 

[MDXer]

In my opinion BI will continue to grow for a long time. Prior to SQL 2k and the release of analysis services BI was a cost prohibitive for most companies. Since the release of Analysis Services 2K the number of companies able and interested in BI has increased substantially. MS SQL Server 2005 pushed the Microsoft tool set more towards a platform designed to support BI implementations and I am told this is more noticeable in 2008 as most of the enhancements from the 2005 product are Data Warehouse and BI related.

The only downfall I see is companies relying on, or forcing non BI trained people into implementing a BI solution. Just as an OLTP system has it’s methodologies and skills, the same is true for BI. When OLTP practices are applied to a BI solution my experience is they are often poorly designed, slow and don’t allow the user to get the information they are after. A poor BI system or one that has taken much longer to implement than estimated can easily turn a company off to the benefits. Personally I only do Data Warehouse and BI work and have turned down many job offers for OLTP systems.

The good news however is that BI like many things is limited only to ones imagination. Assembly lines can use BI to track inventory vs. need to determine if they have the supplies to support the current speed of the line, casinos use BI to track a customers worth to them and guide what comps and how much an individual is comped. The key to making these or any type of BI solution a success is to have individuals who know the industry play a large role during design and implementation.

If approached right and kept in check companies will gain for more than they spend for BI solutions. I was part of a BI solution where the company sold access to our Data that was in MOLAP cubes; starting price was 300K we had many manufacturers willing to pay much, much more for access to the data.

So yes I do believe that the future of the BI industry is one where the need for people with solid BI skills and BI products is one that will continue to grow.


Paul
---------------------------------------
Shoot Me! Shoot Me NOW!!!
- Daffy Duck

 

[Recce]

Excellent Paul, thanks, I appreciate this peace of writing !

"We know nothing but, that what we know is not the truth..." - Me