BI to be worth $22bn by 2020

The global business intelligence (BI) and analytics software market is set to grow to $22.8 billion in the space of just three years, new research from IT experts Gartner suggests.

This year alone, BI and analytics will grow to $18.3 billion, an increase of 7.3 per cent from 2016, as modern BI and analytics continues to expand “more rapidly” than the overall market.

Gartner said the growth in popularity of BI is a reflection of how business needs have shifted from being “system-of-record reporting” to requirements that are “business-led and agile”.

While the modern BI and analytics market is expected to slow a little - from 63.6 per cent growth in 2015 to a forecast 19 per cent by 2020 - Gartner said this is a sign of data and analytics becoming mainstream.

"Purchasing decisions continue to be influenced heavily by business executives and users who want more agility and the option for small personal and departmental deployments to prove success," said Rita Sallam, research vice president at Gartner.

"Enterprise-friendly buying models have become more critical to successful deployments."

The company said the “rapidly evolving” BI and analytics market is being influenced by a number of dynamics including a need for complex datasets, more demand for support for real-time events and continued investment in the cloud.

"Organisations will benefit from the many new and innovative vendors continuing to emerge, as well as significant investment in innovation from large vendors and venture capital-funded startups," Ms Sallam added.