19 Jan 2009

Analysts predict increase in SaaS usage

Business intelligence analysts have predicted a steep rise in the number of organisations using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) by 2010.

Ahead of its business intelligence summit tomorrow, Gartner revealed that experts expect 20 per cent more information aggregators and other businesses relying on SaaS "to deliver domain specific applications".

Kurt Schlegel, research vice president at Gartner, said that IT leaders and business users should work together to incorporate a "manageable number" of the information aggregators into their business intelligence and performance management portfolio.

"They should work with the information provider to ensure the information tapped by the SaaS analytic application can be integrated into their internal data warehouses," he said.

Analysts also added that companies should value security and confidentiality and only work with aggregators willing to offer those assurances.

The 2008 Business Intelligence awards saw a speech by professor Ian Ayres outlining how successful organisations are analysing massive databases in order to gain results.