Business intelligence tools are currently used by many companies to guide them in report generation and consequently decision-making. But what is the outlook for these tools in the future? How would these tools impact those entrepreneurs who are building businesses?
In the near future, these are the following expectations for business intelligence tools:
- Cloud computing will be a great influence in terms of its simplicity. The influence of the users will also grow in terms of what new business intelligence tools would come out. The clients for these tools will demand the ease-of-use for such tools as well as the ease of its acquisition, installation and maintenance. The sellers of these business intelligence tools would thus have to adapt to the expectations of potential buyers. They would thus have to increase the speed of deployment for the products as well as the availability of purchase in smaller increments.
- Business analytics appliances would be incorporating databases including business intelligence tools with user-interfacing functions. The sellers of these products would thus have to widen their product range to include reporting and analysis tools not just tools wherein the user just inputs data. Some of these products had its debut in the market last 2011 but it is expected to be utilized by more companies in the years to come.
- The growth in the demand for mobile business intelligence tools is also projected. Clients however, are expected to look for more case-specific products rather than just generic tools. Today, many business intelligence tools makers are continuing their research on what should be the best design so that their products would fit the mobile lifestyle of their client base. They need business solutions that should give more value to the clients. The tools that would just allow the viewing, commenting and editing of a report are a thing of the past. The new generation business intelligence tools should allow for collaboration as well as workflow approvals while being mobile.
- It is also predicted that there will be more advanced analytics that will be made available in the market. Currently, there aren't enough quantitative analysts out there in the job market that could do the complex analysis required by many companies. Thus, there would be a need and also a growth on business intelligence tools that could have more of the quantitative predictive function. This is targeted to help businessmen in the analytical and decision-making process without the need of added manpower.
- There is also an expectation that knowledge management will re-surge in importance. This will thus prod business intelligence tool vendors to invest more on technologies that will support collaboration. It would also help if the collaboration tool would include social media integration.
All of these expected future developments in it would impact the business of entrepreneurs in terms of ease of decision-making. It would also bring in convenience as the mobility and social media components are factored in. Over all, these projected developments are on the plus side for business owners.
