The need for cloud-based business intel

Is the market wavering on cloud BI? Joseph Rozenfeld outlines some selling points

There are a number of trends affecting the business intelligence (BI) software market: the emergence of new actionable sources of data; the launch of visualisation offerings powered by HTML5 and Javascript; and the migration of numerous traditional ERP functions and new enterprise functions to cloud.

Cloud BI is one of the latest innovations supporting these trends and affecting many organisations in a good way. It can access data where it is predominantly being generated and stored – in the cloud.

It is suitable for consumption via browser, harnessing HTML5 and Javascript. It can be integrated with cloud applications, allowing for effective delivery of BI inside standard applications – or embedded BI.

It gives firms access to comprehensive analytics and reporting tools to manage their regular operations.

Cloud BI also scales differently from traditional BI software. The ability to scale up and grow easily with the rest of the cloud is more important than the ability to run the massive BI server instances of the past.

This new user-friendliness and scale make cloud BI worthwhile for companies allowing virtually every employee access to actionable intelligence, and this is the primary benefit of a BI offering.

Business administrators can learn about their everyday operations and guide personnel in ways that may improve workplace efficiency. Employees can also use cloud BI to streamline standard processes.

Cloud-based BI platforms can be easier to deploy as there is no BI server to install or configure. Utility-priced cloud BI can be deployed in weeks or even days, as opposed to the months commonly required for a traditional BI product.

Analytics should be a simple and powerful part of every application, built into the very fabric of a business system or process.

We will surely see a better understanding of data-driven applications and embeddable BI over the next few years and cloud BI is an important stepping stone to this vision.

What is the biggest benefit you expect from cloud BI, reporting and analytics this year?

Joseph Rozenfeld is senior vice president of engineering and chief technology officer at Jaspersoft