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Smarter Mobile Devices Drive Demand For Mobile BI Apps
Business intelligence software is helping smartphones live up to their name. And it’s adding a touch of brilliance to tablet devices as well.
Desk-bound analysts and IT department developers have traditionally been the heaviest “consumers” of business intelligence technology. But the rapid proliferation of next-generation mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, is generating a wave of increasingly sophisticated business intelligence software for mobile users.
“It’s not just another deployment platform for BI applications. It’s a whole new opportunity,” said Mychelle Mollot, IBM (NYSE:IBM) vice president of worldwide marketing for business analytics.
Industry forecasts back that up. Thirty-three percent of business intelligence functionality will be consumed through hand-held devices by 2013, according to a Gartner forecast.
Business intelligence has already become the third most in-demand enterprise mobile application, behind only e-mail and personal information management apps such as calendars, according to a market study published in October by independent analyst Howard Dresner. Sixty-eight percent of that survey’s participants rated mobile BI as “critical” or “very important” – up from 52 percent in the same study one year earlier.
Finding the right role for mobile business applications in manufacturing
When it comes to what’s hot and over-hyped these days, mobile applications are right up there — lagging only such leaders as cloud computing and Justin Bieber. But surveys looking into adoption rates of mobile business applications in manufacturing tell a different story.
Interest in mobile ERP and mobile business intelligence (BI) may be high, but applications are just breaking into manufacturing organizations, and even early adopters are using the programs selectively, mainly for tablet-toting senior executives. One reason for the low adoption rates: Many of today’s commercial apps still fall far short of their potential, analysts say.
But this could all change in the months ahead. “It’s striking how the commitments and investments to mobile integration by software vendors have accelerated dramatically,” said Howard Dresner, chief research officer for Dresner Advisory Services LLC, which specializes in the BI market. “We’ve come a long way from last year when a majority of them said that mobile is ‘very important’ to the overwhelming majority now saying mobile is ‘critically important.’ ”
Some New Intel on Business Intelligence
In the course of our everyday work, Saugatuck researchers regularly review information and insight developed by third parties – after all, a worldview limited to one’s own data and insights is necessarily incomplete.
One of the more interesting sets of intel and insights we’ve seen comes from old friend Howard Dresner of Dresner Advisory Services, who has published a very helpful analysis of what’s shaping Business Intelligence (BI) adoption and use worldwide. The highlights that we found most illuminating included the following:
Momentum Continues to Grow for Mobile Business Intelligence
For years now, business intelligence vendors have been talking about making BI accessible to employees throughout companies and not just senior executives, based on the idea that BI is more effective the closer it gets to the operational front lines. Up until now, however, that’s remained more wishful thinking than anything else.
Two BI experts I interviewed in the past month believe business intelligence is going more mainstream, thanks largely to the increased presence of mobile devices at many companies
Six Recommendations for Implementing Business Intelligence Solutions
Business intelligence is expanding and facing new approaches and technologies, offering both opportunities and disruptions for suppliers and buyers, according to the findings in our 2011 “Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study.” A new era is unfolding in business intelligence, characterized by a broader customer base than a few years ago and a more mainstream understanding of BI’s value. Our study found that initial implementations are expanding, as are the numbers of tools. However, organizations must establish greater governance and also elevate BI to a strategic level to ensure optimal benefits from their BI investments.