Mobile business intelligence (BI) adoption, which in the past has been affected by a lack of use and technological advancement, is on the increase.
This is according to market research firm Ovum, which points out that the adoption wave has been spurred by the confluence of three underlying factors - a readily available selection of high-performance mobile devices; network infrastructure that allows for rapid sending and receiving of data; and the increasing need for businesses to quickly respond to changes to stay competitive.
In its latest review of the mobile BI landscape, "Solutions Guide: Mobile Business Intelligence" on the status of mobile BI, Ovum notes that vendors like MicroStrategy and Information Builder are leading the charge with functional mobile solutions, while giants like SAP have become suppliers of solutions for iOS devices.
Ovum says while all vendors fully support the iOS platform, followed closely by Android (90%), there is a considerable lack of support for BlackBerry (50%) and Windows (33%) devices.
"There is no question that the iPad's success in the consumer market has affected vendors' go-to-market strategies," says Fredrik Tunvall, analyst at Ovum.
"However, to reach a larger audience, they should consider supporting native or hybrid applications for Android and Windows devices, as both are expected to become increasingly prevalent in the enterprise, especially in emerging markets," he adds.
The market research firm also points out that while SAP's offering has been driven by its acquisitions of Afaria, Syclo and Sybase, and a BI roadmap that is heavily influenced by a 'mobile-first' mindset, competitors IBM, Oracle and SAS are also eyeing market share.
Ovum believes the competitors have the technology and necessary development resources to improve their solutions quickly in 2013.
"We expect BI vendors to enhance their mobile capabilities through in-house development and a continued wave of mergers and acquisitions activity," adds Tunvall.
"This will also be where we will see some of the most interesting and innovative developments in BI and analytics over the next few years."
Fellow analyst firm Forrester Research also predicts that mobile BI will be a particular priority in 2013. In recent research, Forrester notes that 24% of enterprises already use, or are piloting, mobile BI applications, while 37% are considering mobile BI for near-term implementations.
"Mobility is no longer a 'nice to have' - it will become the new BI mantra," says Forrester Research principal analyst, Boris Evelson.
"Currently, mobile BI adoption is behind the curve compared with other enterprise mobile applications. This is mainly due to the perceived lack of specific business use cases and tangible ROI. But mobile BI caught up in 2012, will continue to progress in 2013, and will eventually become the norm," he concludes.
Share