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Businesses are investing in business intelligence and business performance. "Enterprises have realised that corporate success entails business intelligence," says Professor Mika Hannula from the Tampere University of Technology (TUT). A study carried out by TUT and Affecto shows that during a downturn investments in business intelligence grow.

"Businesses have information, but the problem is how to find the essential out of the vast data pool and make it available for management," says Hannula. "This is a bottleneck, which business intelligence is striving to address." 

Business intelligence refers to information that is relevant in running a company, as well as to actions that make it possible for the processing of this information to support decision-making.
The questionnaire carried out by TUT and Affecto was targeted at the 50 largest enterprises in Finland. The study shows that business intelligence has established itself as a tool used in decision-making in large enterprises, and it is becoming strategically more significant in the current challenging economic situation.

The importance of information has grown during the downturn, so investments in business intelligence are being planned. Over 50% of enterprises intend to increase their investments into business intelligence and all companies expect to keep their investments at least in their present state.

Customer-oriented, long-term analysis on the rise
"During the 21^st century, enterprises have changed their business logic so it is no longer based on production but on customers instead. Businesses follow the logic of service activity, where it is essential to create value for the customer's business. Customer-related business intelligence is more important than ever," describes Hannula.

The downturn has reinforced this trend, and now businesses are looking for solutions to manage business intelligence related to their customers' lines of business and profitability. Investments in developing IT solutions to customer relationship management have also grown more than investments in other IT solutions.

Businesses have also shown more interest in long-term forecasts; business intelligence is used to follow more closely and forecast more accurately, for instance, business performance. The timeframe of analyses and scenarios is extended further, in order to be better prepared for future threats and economic fluctuations. Some companies are already putting their IT systems in order to be prepared for the next upswing in the economy.

Strategic tool
"At Affecto, we have noticed that the manner in which our customers handle business intelligence  is developing further towards a strategic course than before, i.e. enterprises analyse what types of challenges business intelligence should solve and how the solutions can be best carried out," says Timo Helkiö, Affecto's Director of Business Development. "Utilizing previous investments is important as well."

According to the study, enterprises are expanding and developing the use of business intelligence systems and tools in order to enhance operations and to release human resources for other projects.

Business intelligence seems to be becoming more entrenched in everyday life and integrating further into other business processes. Personnel will be more involved in collecting, analyzing and distributing information, making the managing of business intelligence a part of their daily chores.

In the future, businesses will strive to develop their operations with the help of business intelligence and by outsourcing routine tasks. The social media's significance in compiling and distributing business intelligence will grow in the near future.

For further information, please contact:
Tampere University of Technology, Mika Hannula, Professor, mika.hannula@tut.fi, tel. +358 40 0331838
Affecto, Timo Helkiö, Director of Business Development, Business Intelligence solutions, timo.helkio@affecto.com, tel. +358 205 777 203

Tampere University of Technology (TUT) has conducted a study in 2002, 2005 and 2007 to discover how business intelligence is applied in major Finnish companies. The study made in 2009 continues this series of reports. The study aims at finding out how large corporations operating in Finland employ business intelligence and how the use of Bi is developing. The study is available only in Finnish at http://www.tut.fi/units/ttt/tlo/Top_50_raportti_final.pdf