With the worst days of the pandemic (knock on wood) behind us and lockdown orders lifted, the world has finally started to adjust to the “new normal.” Now that organizations have begun to reorient their strategies to reflect the novel circumstances, new trends have begun to emerge in the field of data analytics and business intelligence (BI).
Howard Dresner, one of the leading industry analysts in business intelligence, identifies many of these trends in his recent release of Dresner Advisory Services’ 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® Business Intelligence Market Study. With each year presenting new challenges and opportunities, it’s critical that businesses stayed informed on trends in the industry so that we can better adapt to the ever-changing market.
1. Companies are meeting their BI goals
It appears that over the past few years, companies’ investments in BI have been paying off. According to the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® report, top BI achievements are mirroring top goals within organizations. Depending on the individual objectives of each company, realizing these goals can translate to a substantial ROI. This success rate will likely only continue to improve as businesses gain a better understanding of the obstacles and challenges disrupting their current BI strategies.
As far as what these goals look like, better decision-making is by far the most popular target for 2022, having been rated as critical by 52% of businesses. Following that, the next top three goals for 2022 are increased competitive advantage (rated as critical by 37% of organizations), growth in revenues (37% of organizations), and improved operational efficiency / cost savings (33% of organizations). At the end of the day, most companies are simply hoping to improve ROI and streamline how they run their business.
(Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study, Copyright 2022—Dresner Advisory Services)
2. Successful BI organizations target broad audiences
Responsible for high-level decision-making and overall strategy development, it’s no surprise that executives are the most targeted audience for BI organizations. According to the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds report, executive and administrator positions are the most likely primary (65%) and potential (96%) targeted users for BI. Following senior management, mid-level managers are about 80% likely to be primary or secondary targeted users.
However, despite the continued emphasis placed on higher-level roles, there’s been an increasing interest in the customer demographic. According to the report, customer primary targeting jumped from 32 to 40 percent this year. With technology advancing at an alarmingly fast rate, many businesses are seeking to capitalize on the potential of untapped market audiences.
To build on this, the report also found that businesses who make BI accessible to all potential target audiences are more likely to be completely successful with BI. As a matter of fact, high levels of customer targeting is more than twice as likely to occur at completely successful than somewhat unsuccessful and unsuccessful BI organizations.
(Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study, Copyright 2022—Dresner Advisory Services)
3. Organizations are spending more
As businesses grow, so do their reporting and analytic needs. According to the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds report, the percentage of organizations using four or more tools has increase from 23 to 29 percent over the past four years. Likewise, the percentage of organizations using just two or fewer tools has decreased from 49 to 37 percent over the same time frame.
The increased number of tools has also fueled an increased in spending. The report found that about 55% of organizations plan to increase their BI investment, with another 40% planning to at least maintain their current budget. Unsurprisingly, high-achieving business are more likely to increase their budgets across the board as they seek to continue building upon their already successful foundation. As the market continues to grow (and along side it, companies’ needs), likely so will their budgets.
(Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study, Copyright 2022—Dresner Advisory Services)
4. BI penetration is improving
More spending and more tools also means more employees utilizing BI in their functions. BI penetration levels have grown substantially over the past seven years, according to the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds report. Since 2015, 61-80% penetration levels have grown from 4 to 10% of organizations, and penetration levels greater than 80% have grown from 13 to 18%.
And it’s not stopping there. Over the next twelve months, businesses expect to reduce sub-10% penetration by half (from about 20 to 10%), and for higher penetration levels to continue improving. Three years from now, businesses expect sub-10% penetration to be reduced to as low as 8%, with levels above 80% to nearly double to a whopping 32%. Overall, businesses are witnessing the benefits of enabling data-driven decision-making at all levels of operation. As budgets continue to grow, organizations will likely place increasing emphasis on democratizing their data.
(Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study, Copyright 2022—Dresner Advisory Services)
5. Success is best measured with user feedback
An organization’s success with BI is a frequent means of evaluating how certain trends and practices translate to meaningful results. But to understand how these results compare, we must first ask ourselves, how do we measure “success with business intelligence?”
According to the 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® report, the greatest measure of success is user feedback/satisfaction, coming in at an impressive 82% of organizations. This is 31% higher than the second-best measure—customer feedback/satisfaction—which tops out at only 51% of organizations.
According to respondents, the greatest contributors to success with BI are support from senior management, a culture that understands and values fact based decision-making, and good communication between those who develop BI solutions and those who use it. Likewise, the greatest obstacles to success with BI are a lack of expert resources, a culture that doesn’t fully understand or value fact-based decision-making, and a lack of data-literacy education.
(Wisdom of Crowds Business Intelligence Market Study, Copyright 2022—Dresner Advisory Services)
Learn more
With how much the world has changed over the past two years, it’s more important now than ever that businesses stayed informed on emerging trends within the business intelligence market. Every day presents new opportunities and challenges that can only be approached through continuous education and a willingness to adapt. To learn more about these and other business analytics trends, download the full 2022 Wisdom of Crowds® report below.
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