Business intelligence (BI) services was one of the few areas experiencing investment and expansion, and a notable bright spot for IT services vendors during 2009, according to industry analyst firm TBR.

In fact, many of the vendors interviewed for and profiled in TBR’s “Business Intelligence Services Continue to Grow Despite Weak Economic Climate” white paper reported double-digit or even triple-digit growth of BI-related services in 2009, while experiencing revenue declines across the remainder of their portfolios.

According to TBR’s Professional Services Business Quarterly (PSBQ) Director Eugene Zakharov, “The rapid growth of BI services is not surprising: Along with allowing vendors and end users to identify areas of redundancy and possible cost-savings, the insight into operations that BI services provide allows companies to more closely align IT investments with strategic business goals and to better predict and meet market demand – and this is increasingly important as companies begin to reposition themselves to capture reemerging industry growth. Buyers and vendors alike realize that cost-saving measures will not be enough to provide a competitive edge in 2010. Instead, the coming year marks somewhat of a return to strategic and forward looking IT investments, including those that will create new opportunities, add value for clients and drive growth and innovation.”

In fact, some business intelligence and analytics success stories quantify this potential competitive edge, highlighting 12% to 25% decreases in sales turnover, 30% to 40% increases in sales and a 20% decrease in overall SG&A costs through the optimization of business processes.

According to Lindy Hanson, Senior Analyst for PSBQ, “The BI services market will remain a hot area of investment for both end-users and IT services vendors in 2010. To grow their portfolios, vendors will make additional alliances and acquisitions (both services and software), develop their offshore delivery capabilities and create new centers of excellence, and include more vertical solutions and expertise.”

As a result, customers will increasingly face a broader range of solutions.

In selecting a vendor, TBR believes customers should focus in particular on ensuring a match between their needs and a vendor’s vertical market expertise, geographic presence and the maturity of its overall BI services portfolio.

About this market research

As part of the “Business Intelligence Services Continue to Grow Despite Weak Economic Climate” white paper and its overall research into the BI services market, TBR focused on five prominent vendors – IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, HP and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – and all focus on different areas within the market (i.e., IBM’s end-to-end capabilities, Deloitte’s high-level consulting focus and TCS’ position as an offshore provider). As a result, TBR is able to provide a broad view of the overall market and trends in BI-related services and consulting. The full publication is available for download at the link below.

» Story on Analyst Firm Website

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