BI Market Survey Indicates Need for Improved Data Discovery and Access

Noetix Corp., a BI-software provider, revealed the results of a nationwide market survey -conducted by Unisphere Research- indicating that improvements to data discovery and access will accelerate the impact that BI can have on business success.

The survey results indicated that the discovery of relevant data sources and access to those data sources are considered key pieces of BI functionality. More than one-third of the respondents indicated that they found it difficult or very difficult to locate the data they need for analytic applications. More than a quarter said that once target data was located, it was difficult to then access that data. Respondents remarked that the single most important functionality for a BI tool was ease in finding relevant data. According to the survey, the ability to integrate data from disparate applications into a single report was also called out as a key feature for BI applications. Approximately 77 percent of the respondents said the ability to report from multiple applications and make the data available from one report is somewhat to very important. Companies reported that they use a wide range of metrics to gauge ROI for BI. Of all the metrics used, analyst productivity and quality of the decisions made were listed as the most important. The key to improving ROI for end users is identifying tools that are easy to use and provide easier-to-access, relevant data. Source: www.dmreview.coma>