1 What are the typical problems in introducing business intelligence tools that are described in the case study? In the face of an economic downturn, one might have expected companies to cut back on IT projects across the board. Spending on business intelligence tools, however, remains healthy. According to Forrester Research, the analyst group, as many as 44 per cent of companies are considering investing in business intelligence software. This puts growth in business intelligence ahead of that in customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning

(ERP) and integration technologies.

Business intelligence software helps companies analyse and manage information across their operations, whether it is sales data produced by an electronic point of sale (EPOS) system, information from distributors, statistics from a website or traffic from a call centre.

As IT departments improve the connections between business systems, the amount of data reaching managers can increase dramatically.

Areas such as supply chain management, ERP and production systems are showing a trend towards real-time data gathering. This holds out the potential for far quicker and more accurate decision-making.

But there is also a danger: managers risk being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information they receive. Rather than better decision-making, the result can be executive paralysis.