Computer world has an article on BI, which is an output from a panel in an executive summit,

Some Excerpts from the same:

Panelists said they have used enterprise-level analysis of data with BI tools when deciding on strategic initiatives such as deciding where to build new manufacturing plants, how to bolster customer loyalty or how to dramatically increase market share. But doing so successfully has meant moving analytics from scattered pockets throughout a company to embedding it in front-line business processes, executives said at the Competing on Analytics symposium.

Keith Coulter, managing director of consumer cards and loans at London-based Barclays PLC, said the use of analytics was core to a five-year plan launched in 2000 to reverse a decline in revenue by winning new customers against emerging competitors MBNA Corp. and Capital One Financial Corp. in the U.K. Barclays infused analytics into its supply chain systems as well as the systems used by call center representatives to interact with customers. The result: Barclays acquired 1.5 million accounts through direct marketing from 2003 to 2004, three times the number of new accounts added between 2001 and 2003, he said

Thomas Davenport, a professor of IT and management at Babson College, has been surveying companies that use analytics to compete over the past year. He said analytics can help companies optimize key business processes such as setting prices for products and identifying most valuable customers. But companies can't optimize these core processes without taking an large-scale approach, he said.

"Most of the time, analytic decisions are more accurate than those that are made with the gut," Davenport said. "If this is your competitive strategy, it makes no sense to do it in a series of pockets throughout the organization -- particularly if the pockets are spreadsheets."

Prashanth RaiTag(s):BI, Analytics