By the end of this year, worldwide investments
in business intelligence (BI) will exceed $16
billion. The promises of these investments
are manifold. In theory, more timely
and effective decision-making should translate
into more competitive strategies, greater market
share, improved customer satisfaction, more
productive employees, better control and oversight,
and more accurate planning, budgets, and forecasts.
The real-world results often fall short.
There are a number of misconceptions and factors that stifle the payoff of a BI
initiative. Among the worst offenders, or worst practices, are the following:
"BI is just a data warehouse."