Half the enterprises in the UAE think their decision making processes are hindered by having too much data, according to a KPMG Business Intelligence Survey among companies that had already deployed Business Intelligence solutions or plan to do so within three years.
Just 10% of respondents feel they are getting the most from their data, but the survey highlighted that one third of companies have already deployed BI and reckon they’re already deriving benefits and better able to see the wood from the trees in the forests of data that they hold. Most BI users report improved decision making, customer service and financial performance in spite of BI being primarily utilised by finance and business managers as opposed to c-level executives or frontline staff.
In fact, the benefits seem so apparent that KPMG partner Rajeev Lalwani expects approximately 70% of UAE firms to use BI tools in 2009. “An overwhelming majority of the executives said that they expect either considerable or significant savings by getting the right information at the right time,” he said.
This trend is also evident outside the region with almost 60% of respondents to a recent Forrester survey stating that they are deploying BI, data warehousing or data integration tools across their enterprises. However, in spite of the trend towards self-service BI, Forrester reported that 75% of respondents are creating their own reports and dashboards and two thirds say their end users find BI tools difficult to learn.
I've been writing about technology for nearly 20 years, including editing industry magazines Connect and Communications International. In 2002 I co-founded Futurity Media with Anthony Plewes. My focus in Futurity Media is in emerging technologies, social media and future gazing. As a graduate of philosophy & science, I have studied futurology & foresight to the post-grad level.