Business Intelligence – Ready for Market Research?

If we look at the current BI landscape today, there is intense competition for tools serving large enterprises. Whether Business Objects, Cognos, Hyperion, Microstrategy, etc. tool vendors are all clamoring for a piece of the enterprise BI market.

But as much buzz as BI generates, I don’t see a lot of ready-made solutions for market research and virtually nothing for one-off research. One key problem for market research is the generation of quality reports with a minimum of customization, and that’s precisely where today’s BI offerings miss the mark.

It’s hard to believe the opportunity isn’t there – countless firms conduct market research and create custom reports as one-offs, and firms like Tableau come close in providing a tool that’s easy to use for spot analysis.

Perhaps this is the best indication of where the BI market really stands. If BI requires multiple servers and building reports by hand, you can bet this industry niche is nowhere near maturity.

P.S. – if somehow I’ve missed something, let me know!