Business Intelligence applications and tools are all the rage, and yet it remains a bit hazy what the term "BI" really means. Most agree that the technology uses analytical techniques to find business value in huge volumes of data, but that is an awfully broad definition. To get a firmer handle on BI, CIO's Thomas Wailgum asks several IT experts.

Tom Davenport, professor of Management and IT at Babson College, describes BI "as all the things that organizations do to make sense of data for purposes of managing an organization better." Ray Wang, a partner at Altimeter Group, offers an even broader meaning: "The ability for the right person to receive the right information at the right time to make the best decision with the information at hand."

Despite putting the question to numerous experts, Wailgum does not come up with a concise definition, leaving one to wonder whether the interests behind the technology like it that way. Merv Adrian, IT industry analyst and consultant, thinks they do. "The vagueness of many of these terms means that dozens of vendors and analysts can redefine the category at will--and do, often," Adrian notes.  

Even as experts continue to hash out what BI actually means, BI vendors seem to be expanding the concept, incorporating new functions into their wares. Lately, a number of them have begun embracing spreadsheets (the original--and seemingly immortal--BI tool), attempting to integrate data from spreadsheets into other enterprise data resources, Wailgum reports. More BI tools are being designed to work on mobile devices as well.

Further underscoring the vigor of BI these days, little-known companies offering BI and analytics are growing rapidly and being propelled into the spotlight of the larger enterprise software market. InformationWeek's Bob Evans recounts the heady rise of Qlik Technologies, which just launched a very successful IPO. "Qlik seems destined to become the #1 acquisition target for any of a range of enterprise-software companies eager to claim a stronger spot in the dynamic BI market," Evans writes.

For more:
- see Thomas Wailgum's post on defining BI
- see Thomas Wailgum's post on BI and spreadsheets
- see Bob Evans' post on Qlik Technologies

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