Readers:

Last week, Howard Dresner released the 2014 Edition of his Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study.

Mr. Dresner is Chief Research Officer of Dresner Advisory Services, LLC, an independent advisory firm and a well-known authority and author in the areas of Business Intelligence and Performance Management.

Howard has 32 years of IT industry experience with 24 years in the Business Intelligence market.

He spent 13 years at Gartner, where he was a Research Fellow and Lead Analyst for BI. He also served as Chief Strategy Officer at Hyperion Solutions prior to forming Dresner Advisory Services in 2007.

Howard is a frequent speaker around the globe and has published two books on the subject – including: Profiles in Performance – Business Intelligence Journeys and the Roadmap for Change (John Wiley & Sons, November 2009) and The Performance Management Revolution: Business Results through Insight and Action (John Wiley & Sons, November 2007).

Through the Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence market research reports, Howard engages with a global community to redefine how research is created and shared.

I thought I would share a peek into his report with you on the topic of Success with Business Intelligence and Technology Priorities.

Mr. Dresner notes that with a few exceptions, reports of success with BI deviate little based on specific technology priorities. Those claiming success are slightly more likely to favor in-memory analysis and data mining and advanced algorithms. Those that are less successful were more likely to favor big data, analytical applications, software-as-a-service / cloud and location intelligence.

As part of his survey, when asked for reasons why business intelligence fails, respondents point to shortfalls and constraints surrounding data that include “tools” and “time,” but also “business,” “organization” and “management”.

Primary reasons for failure include: a lack of management understanding or appreciation of BI, a predominant focus upon technology vs. solving business problems and a lack of skills and resources to deliver solutions.

To visualize the data associated with success and not being successful, Mr. Dresner uses a radar chart (see chart below). A radar chart is a graphical method of displaying multivariate data in the form of a two-dimensional chart of three or more quantitative variables represented on axes starting from the same point. The relative position and angle of the axes is typically uninformative.

The radar chart is also known as web chart, spider chart, star chart, star plot, cobweb chart, irregular polygon, polar chart, or kiviat diagram.

As I delve deeper into the report, I will share other insights with you.

Best regards,

Michael