Use of BI doesn't match hype

The manner in which companies are using business intelligence (BI) technology does not exactly match the picture painted by vendors and other industry experts, states MBT.

This was found in a survey of more than 1 900 BI users and consultants conducted by the Business Application Research Centre (BARC), a software industry analyst firm based in Germany.

Nigel Pendse, lead author of BARC's BI Survey 7, says: "We regularly find that the received wisdom in this industry doesn't match what the majority of real-world users are finding. For instance, almost all demos now focus on the Web version of the product. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking that Web BI usage is universal, but this simply isn't the case."

All of the frothy hype over BI tools is justly warranted in the retail industry, says CIO.com.

According to a January 2008 report from Aberdeen Group, nearly 70% of the retailers had already implemented and currently use BI tools, and 26% reported plans to adopt a BI system.

The top reason retailers are implementing BI systems is to allow them "to quickly react to changes in customer demand".

Financial Industry Computer Systems (FICS) has begun rolling out BusinessObjects Enterprise Professional and Crystal Reports XI to users of its residential mortgage loan servicing system, Mortgage Servicer, according to Business Wire.

FICS will deploy the solutions to its customers in three phases.

Following the roll-out to Mortgage Servicer customers, FICS will extend the solution to its customers using its commercial mortgage loan servicing system, Commercial Servicer, and then to those customers using Loan Producer, FICS's residential mortgage loan origination system.