Business Intelligence top priority of CIOs

By Stan Beer
Sunday, 25 February 2007 13:21

Market

A survey of 1400 CIOs worldwide released last week revealed that BI was ranked the number one technology priority of CIOs. Gartner, which conducted the survey, says that while increasing investments in BI present good opportunities for software vendors, the market will get tougher in 2007 with increased competition from the major software vendors such as Oracle, SAP and Microsoft.

Gartner also predicts tough times for the pure play BI vendors such as Business Objects, Hyperion and SAS Institute. According to Gartner, the BI revenue from the major software vendors will grow three times faster than revenues from the BI pure-play vendors in 2007.

“BI has become a strategic initiative and is now recognised by chief information officers (CIOs) and business leaders as instrumental in driving business effectiveness and innovation,” said Ian Bertram, research vice president at Gartner.

Business Intelligence (BI) platform revenue will grow 12% in Australia to reach more than A$100 million (US$79 million) in 2007, according to Gartner. The research firm also predicts that BI platform revenue will grow at an annual compound growth rate of 10% to reach more than A$143 million (US$113 million) by 2010.

At the company’s inaugural Business Intelligence and Information Management Summit in Australia, which kicks off in Sydney tomorrow, Gartner Research managing vice president Ian Bertram will outline the future of BI and how it will impact the business environment over the next 10 years and assess the opportunities and challenges it presents to Australian organisations.