In the last year, corporate management seems to have gained a better understanding of what business intelligence (BI) means to organizations. Executives finally are realizing that information about performance and the metrics that measure it are keys to improving their bottom line. Even so, they have invested far less in efforts to support BI than in other areas of information technology.CIOs and other executives who insist that BI is a top priority for their business need to check whether their money is where their mouth is by comparing their level of investment in technology and people dedicated to BI to the rest of the IT portfolio.

It's time for organizations to move beyond the rhetoric about BI prioritization and do something strategic. They should start by appointing leaders who can develop and drive a unified strategy and support them with appropriate investments to enable them to deliver BI wherever people can use it to benefit the enterprise. Please share your perspective in the comments field below.

Mark Smith is CEO And Senior Vice President Of Research at Ventana Research. Write to him at [email protected].In the last year, corporate management seems to have gained a better understanding of what business intelligence (BI) means to organizations. Executives finally are realizing that information about performance and the metrics that measure it are keys to improving their bottom line. Yet even so, they have invested far less in efforts to support BI than in other areas of information technology.