BI tools can be fantastic for identifying and tracking data and trends in a business. The problem is that it currently takes an army of people to prepare the data for BI while typically just a few analysts are able to interpret it. Data preparation includes loading and transforming data for data warehousing and integration with data dictionaries and OLAP. And automating the flow for keeping all information up-to-date in the BI system.
This is sure to change. To use BI well today, the analyst needs to be able to have good business acumen to know what to look for and to have a deep understanding of the capabilities of the BI tool used. Ideally, different levels of hierarchy and positions within the company should be able to plug into the BI tools — right now most are locked out.
BI and Search tools are sure to have a great influence on each other and are likely to merge and morph into sophisticated and easy to use tools for exploring company data. The result will be tools that empower the average business person with the ability to explore the data. Most BI tools center on the aggregation of data collected from structured data sources — one area of improvement will be the ability to include non-structured data into the blend, expanding the scope of business knowledge in the system.
