Mobile BI Picks Up Steam, Offers Potential for the Channel

Although mobile computing has certainly increased in popularity, business applications have been largely limited to email and calendaring. But as we enter 2014, business intelligence (BI) is now a solid No. 3 with regard to being rated as "critical" or "very important" mobile apps, according to a new survey of 240 business and IT executives conducted by Dresner Advisory Services. "In terms of mobile BI adoption, we're definitely starting to move the needle," Howard Dresner, president of Dresner Advisory Services, told Channel Insider. Smaller companies, often served by the channel, are more aggressively adopting mobile BI applications as part of a concerted effort to leverage mobile computing to compete more effectively against larger rivals by making better decisions faster. In fact, leveraging mobile BI to make faster and better decisions has become a higher priority for 55 percent of the organizations surveyed. All in all, increased use of mobile BI applications in 2014 will not only create opportunities for the channel to sell those applications, but also to consult on how best to get the most value from those investments. Here are key takeaways from the report.