The cycle of IT spending has worked its way through cycles of communications, security, and cost control, taking care of the fundamental IT infrastructure. The next stage of the cycle saw business seek out solutions to help the business grow; including Business Process Improvement and BI solutions. Successful organisations recognised that incorporating BI into their vision is central to their future success. Information must be transformed from sideline systems into a fully integrated part of both strategic and operational processes.

BI applications require a clear and intimate understanding of the business and an acceptance of the criticality that technology and business must work in unison.

To manage this transition, Business Intelligence Competency Centers help the business evolve through the BI Maturity Lifecycle to become proactive front runners, using information to forecast future opportunities and threats, rather than analyse what went wrong historically.