We all recognise 2007 as a year of consolidation for BI, with major aquisitions right through the vendor market:

• Oracle bought Hyperion
• SAP purchased Business Objects
• IBM acquired Cognos
• Oracle has announced a $8.5 billion buyout of BEA.

This has lead most companies to pull back from any major BI technology purchases in 2008, instead waiting for a settling of the vendor market. This makes it an ideal time for companies to move their focus from technology into the areas of BI that contribute greater value:

• Data Aggregation
• Data Quality
• Data Governance
• Process performance improvement
• Strategic Alignment / Balanced Scorecards
• BI Opportunity Identification

….in other words, all those things that ideally should be done BEFORE the BI technology gets taken out of the box, but rarely is.

So rather than shelving plans for BI, see 2008 as the year of adjustment, the gentle reminder that technology is only 10 percent of the BI effort, and get your ducks in a row before you fish back into the pond for the lastest tech.