The global business intelligence (BI) software revenue will reach $13.8 billion in 2013, a 7 per cent rise from 2012. This would reach $17.1 billion by 2016, according to a forecast by research and analyst firm Gartner Inc.
"BI and analytics have grown to become the fourth-largest application software segment as end users continue to prioritise BI and information-centric projects and spending to improve decision making and analysis," said Dan Sommer, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.
“As more and more information is generated, business models need reinvention, and it's increasingly clear that mastering analytics on big data will be a key driver for the next economic cycle,” Sommer added.
The Chief Information Officers appetite for BI is complemented by more-tactical buying in business units for departmental and workgroup analysis, as well as for personal BI, enabled by the ‘Nexus of Forces’.
The ‘Nexus of Forces’ - cloud, mobile, social and information - are the fundamental drivers.
HAMPERED GROWTH
However, in the near term, growth will be hampered by sluggish macro indicators, as well as by slowing sales cycles of multimillion-dollar end-to-end BI deals.
Compared with 2011 growth of 16 per cent, 2013 and the coming years are expected to be slower, with growth in the high single digits.
"Although this is a mature market and has been a top CIO priority for years, there is still a lot of unmet demand. Every company has numerous subject areas — such as human resources, marketing, social and so on — that have yet to even start with BI and analytics," said Kurt Schlegel, research Vice-President at Gartner.
"The descriptive analytics have largely been completed for most large companies in traditional subject areas, such as finance and sales, but there is still a lot of growth expected for diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive deployments. Since many mid-size enterprises have yet to even start their BI and analytic initiatives, we expect the market for BI and analytics platforms will remain one of the fastest-growing software markets,” Schlegel said.