Six myths of enterprise business intelligence

But so what? We're all guilty, right? Popular myths are surprisingly common. But as they say, 'in the information age, ignorance is a choice'. We can no longer uncritically repeat embarrassing fictions with such blind confidence.

BI truisms that need revisiting

Myths and misconceptions are common in business intelligence (BI) too. Essentially, they're hangovers from a time when BI executed slow disk-based operations using structured, hierarchical query logic, and used all sorts of workarounds and compromises (cubes, data warehousing and reports) to deliver imperfectly on the promise of information at your fingertips.

Today, all the BI action happens in user-driven 'data discovery', not IT-driven report compilation. In-memory calculations and associative query logic deliver lightning-quick answers, with the added bonus of a tiny BI footprint, so queries can be done on the fly on mobile devices. Tools are easy to use and visual, balanced with governance (data integrity and security) to satisfy IT's need for control.

In the new world of data discovery - BI that anyone can do, we no longer need to believe and evangelise the following outdated platitudes:

New rules, new tools

Visionary author Malcolm Gladwell has said it takes around 10,000 hours of practice to attain mastery. The goal of BI vendors should be to take that out of the equation with tools that enable quick mastery.

That age is already upon us with business discovery platforms that deliver timeous, high-value, intuitive analytics for the many. The age-old ideas of business intelligence simply don't cut it anymore.