The beginning of any year is a time to plan what is to come and to reflect upon past successes and challenges with the goal of planning future initiatives. BI always sees changes, such as the increasing focus on mobile BI, end user driven and managed applications, and the expansion of the data warehouse appliance market. Within the mid-market specifically, more organizations are taking advantage of what solution providers have to offer at a lower TCO than previously thought possible.

In addition to all of the expansions of use, many organizations that are new to BI are starting to look at their options and how to implement solutions that meet their business requirements while being able to meet future dynamic business needs. Unfortunately, this can cause some confusion about what solutions are available, what key differentiators exist, and how to reduce the risk of project failure. Without the ability to use external consultants in all cases, many organizations lack an understanding and general visibility into the BI for mid-market industry, available solutions, and the implications of implementing specific types of applications over others.

This year, part of WiseAnalytics’ initiatives will focus on how to decipher the market and provide best practices that not only benefit new implementations, but mid-sized companies that want to take the next step and expand their BI environments. Some topics being covered include:

• an overview of the mid-market and BI trends and adoption
• available solutions – specifically Software as a Service (SaaS) and open source
• best practices and recommendations regarding BI implementations
• demystifying the market