24+ Business Intelligence Statistics and Insights

Consumers and companies constantly generate tons of data. Today the amount of stored data is outgrowing 500 billion iPhones worth of storage. Making sense out of this stockpile of data is crucial for companies if they seek to understand their customers and enhance their sales. That’s where business intelligence, commonly known as BI, steps on the stage. It helps organize, collect and present this vast amount of data in a meaningful way. Thanks to the proliferation of technology, BI tools provide precious insight into customer behavior. These business intelligence statistics will show you the true power of BI. Let’s dig into these stats to get a clearer picture. 

Business Intelligence Statistics (Editor’s Choice)

• Globally, the BI adoption rates hover around 26%. (Wiiisdom)
• 54% of enterprises consider cloud BI critical to their ongoing or future initiatives. (Forbes)
• 95% of enterprise software vendors consider cloud BI as necessary. (Finances Online)
• In 2020, the US faced a shortage of 250,000 data science professionals. (Springboard)
• The Global BI market is forecasted to reach $43.03 billion by 2028.  (Globe Newswire)
• The mobile BI market is set to surpass $20 billion by 2024. (Dataversity)
• 49% of small businesses use data analytics more than before COVID-19. (TechRepublic)
• Organizations that have implemented BI solutions registered a 127% ROI in only three years. (Tableau)

General Statistics on Business Intelligence

1. Total enterprise data volume was expected to increase to 2.02 petabytes by 2022.

For reference, in 2020, global enterprise data volume was one petabyte in size. Therefore, this increase represents a 42.2% annual average growth over these two years. Companies store most of these data in internally managed data centers. 

(Statista)

2. 35.37% of companies consider data preparation very important. 

According to most surveyed companies, the business analytics industry is important. Besides more than a third of those claiming data preparation is very important, 27.89% consider it critical for their operations. Further, 24.15% believe it is important, and 11.22% feel it’s somewhat important. Only 1.37% of companies said it’s unimportant, stats on business intelligence indicate.  

(Finances Online)

3. 55% of small businesses use data to improve their efficiency. 

Smaller companies utilize BI for various purposes. For instance, 47% use it to improve customer interactions. Following that, 45% use it to predict the outcomes of their business decisions. On top of that, about a third of companies that use analytics are considering moving it to the cloud. 

(TechRepublic)

4. Globally, the BI adoption rates hover around 26%. 

This is, however, an average rate across all organizations. On the other hand, if we go deeper and compare it by company size, the results show something interesting. According to business intelligence stats, the adoption rate at over 80% is much higher in organizations with 5,000 employees. Apparently, the larger the company, the higher BI adoption rates. Organizations with over 5,000 employees, for example, have only a 2% BI adoption rate. Alternatively, those with less than 250 employees have a 20% adoption rate.  

(Wiiisdom)

5. 55% of respondents claim that their BI solutions connect to the same data sources. 

Many companies use multiple BI solutions to cover better all use cases. In fact, on average, a company uses 3.8 BI solutions, stats on business intelligence suggest. Also, over half of respondents to recent research indicate that their BI tools all query the same data warehouse solutions. Around 30% said they have a separate source. Finally, 15% weren’t sure how to answer this question. 

(Wiiisdom)

6. 54% of enterprises consider cloud BI critical to their ongoing or future initiatives. 

Business analytics trends suggest that compared to 2018, 2019-2020 marked an uptick in the number of companies experimenting with cloud BI. Moreover, it’s on a good path to keep on growing steadily, business intelligence statistics show. 

(Forbes)

7. Manufacturing registers the highest cloud BI solutions adoption rate or 58%. 

Among the industries, manufacturing is at the very top, with over half of all the companies adopting cloud BI. Following that, financial and business services, with 40% each, are the next on the list. Education has the least number of active users at this time, but its plans for cloud adoption are the most ambitious ones. Finally, technology, healthcare, and consumer services are the most common adopters of cloud BI. 

(Forbes)

8. 77% of Microsoft Azure users consider it crucial to their operations. 

As of 2020, based on business intelligence statistics, the most important and preferred BI solutions provider for enterprises has been Microsoft Azure. Namely, most of its users dubbed it critical to their businesses. The next most important cloud BI providers are Amazon Web Services with 66% and Google cloud with 41% of users considering them vital to their operations.

(Finances Online)

9. As of 2020, 50% of organizations consider data management an asset. 

For reference, this number represents an increase from 46.9% of companies that thought the same in 2019. Operations, finance departments, and executive management were the top three functions boosting adoption rates. Also, in line with statistics on business intelligence, reporting, data integration, dashboard software, data preparation, and data warehousing are among the most important technologies related to BI. 

(Finances Online)

10. 94% of organizations consider data analytics solutions vital for their growth. 

Almost all surveyed companies see some benefits from data analytics. Namely, 64% believe it increases efficiency and productivity, followed by 56% who claim it fosters faster and more effective decision-making. For 51%, it comes with financial gains, while for 46%, it provides the ability to identify new revenue streams. In the end, 45% feel it allows them to restructure the current business model and expand to new ones. 

(3Pillar Global)

11. Barely a fifth of surveyed organizations have a position of Chief Data Officer. 

According to business intelligence stats, not many companies feature the role of CDO in their senior management ranks. Although North America leads by the number of those that recognized the importance of data and data governance within the organization, Middle Eastern companies were also slightly above the global average. 

(Consultancy-me)

12. 73.4% of organizations consider BI adoption to be challenging. 

Although it has many benefits, adopting business intelligence is quite challenging. For example, business intelligence statistics show that only 37.8% of companies managed to develop a data-driven organization. Further, only 26.8% believe they successfully built a data culture. 

(Finances Online)

13. 47% of IT managers claim they have their data warehouses in the public cloud. 

Cloud storage solutions used for data warehouses have been growing in the last few years. Their popularity mainly originates from the cloud’s flexibility. Further, 53% of IT executives claim that multi-cloud and hybrid data warehouses are gaining importance lately. Only 18% of IT managers said that their data warehouses were on the premises, data warehouse statistics confirm.

(G2)

14. 95% of enterprise software vendors consider cloud BI as necessary. 

According to business intelligence statistics, cloud BI is a must-have for almost all organizations. In fact, according to the predictions, cloud, data&analytics, and IoT will have the biggest impact on business operations in the next couple of years. The top three trends in the business intelligence segment were data quality management, master data, data discovery, and self-service BI. 

(Finances Online)

15. ERP system with business analytics will have an average of 112% ROI over five years upon its implementation. 

ERP systems with advanced business analytics have an average payback of 1.6 years for every $4.5 million spent. Considering how vital data is for the organization’s growth, it’s considered a good investment. 

(Michell Consulting Group)

16. 88% of data workers still use spreadsheets to manage data activities. 

Stats on business intelligence reveal the diversity of data, its complexity, and volume are some of the biggest challenges for data workers. Hence, most of them spend more time on analytics than on development. What is more, using manual processes eats up about 60% of their working hours. Also, a recent report found that most employees lack data skills to make decisions. 44% ask IT for help, 35% look for business analysts, and 11% follow their instinct. Only 4% do their own research.  

(3Pillar Global)

17. In 2020, the US faced a shortage of 250,000 data science professionals. 

One of the biggest challenges for the industry is the lack of skilled talent. There isn’t a lack of data scientist trainees but of experienced workers. Statistics show that 35% of organizations confirmed facing most difficulties finding the right skillset for data science roles, business intelligence statistics indicate.

(Springboard)

18. By 2026, data science departments will have around 11.5 million new job openings.

Data indicate that the rising demand for data science experts boosts new openings. In fact, WEF predicted that by 2022, analysts and data scientists will be the principal emerging jobs globally. Moreover, BLS stats indicate that these roles are required across all sectors. For example, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, accounting for 52% of the market’s capitalization, employ most experts in this field. 

(Economic Times)

19. 59% of all data science and analytics job demand originates in finance and insurance, IT, and professional services segments. 

Business intelligence stats show that DSA jobs are most popular in the finance and insurance industry, accounting for 19% of all openings. In professional services, they comprise 18% of all openings, while in IT, 17% of jobs. Typically, when published, DSA job positions remain open for an average of 45 days. That’s five days longer than the average for other positions. 

(Forbes)

20. The average salary of a business intelligence analyst in the US is $71,156. 

The salaries of data analysts vary depending on their expertise, location, or many other factors. So the bottom 10% have about $52,000 annually, while those in the top 10% earn over $97,000, stats on business intelligence demonstrate. 

(Payscale)

Business Intelligence Industry

21. The Global BI market is forecasted to reach $43.03 billion by 2028. 

The growth of e-commerce and digitization is driving the expansion of data segmentation and personalized offers. In turn, this is pushing a further development of the BI market. For instance, the market is set to grow at an 8.7% CAGR between 2021 and 2028. In 2021, the market was worth $24.05 billion, around $2 billion stronger than the previous year. 

(Globe Newswire)

22. The embedded analytics market was projected to reach $60,281 million by 2023. 

The embedded business analytics market represents an integration between data analytics capabilities within business applications. These business applications include enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial systems, marketing automation, and customer relationship management, as per business intelligence statistics indicate. This way, analytics operate as part of the application, not separately. In 2016, this market was worth $25,133 million, and the predicted growth is a CAGR of 13.6%.

(Allied Market Research)

23. The mobile BI market is set to surpass $20 billion by 2024.

The pandemic has sprouted the growth of mobile-friendly analytics and platforms. With many employees switching to a fully remote work model, companies need them and customers to access their platforms from any location. In fact, by 2024, it’s expected that mobile devices will account for 72% of the entire internet traffic, business intelligence stats indicate. 

(Dataversity)

24. 95% of software vendors stand behind cloud BI as a concept. 

One of the latest business analytics trends is cloud BI. In 2021, a lot of companies migrated to a public or hybrid cloud. Further, some have started subscribing to SaaS plans that enable them to have outsourced BI. Cloud BI has become so popular that almost all vendors voted for it, while 54% of companies stated it’s very important. 

(Dataversity)

25. For 86% of US companies, AI was supposed to be the mainstream technology in 2021. 

Following business intelligence statistics, US companies are increasing their AI investments. 52% of respondents have pushed their plans for AI adoption ahead of their schedule due to COVID-19. These companies claimed that new use cases for AI (40%) and higher AI investments (40%) are their major changes. In turn, it’s paying off in multiple ways. Thanks to AI applications in BI, companies have improved their decision-making and customer experience. 

(PwC)

26. In 2020, 64% of large companies automated data analysis with AI. 

Statistics on business intelligence show that compared to 2019, this is a significant rise. For reference, in 2019, around 55% used AI for data analysis. One of the most significant benefits of automation for most companies is processing speed. This allows them to stay on track or outperform the competition. Moreover, it’s crucial for large analytics projects to avoid errors and ineffectiveness. 

(Dataversity)

27. The global BI software market is projected to grow at a 10% CAGR between 2019 and 2025. 

According to business intelligence statistics, in 2018, the BI software market was worth $24.9 billion. Business analytics statistics suggest that, in the largest part, the market is constantly expanding thanks to the ‘Big Data’ approach adopted by many large companies. Big data companies utilize this model to organize external and internal datasets and track behavioral data with a clear purpose. 

(Grand View Research)

28. 49% of small businesses use data analytics more than before COVID-19. 

As with all industries and companies globally, the pandemic has hit smaller companies too. Many haven’t survived; others adapted and used data analytics to overcome the crisis. Business intelligence statistics show that nearly half of all surveyed small companies, with 51 to 200 employees, found new ways to adapt. Namey, 68% of them use analytics in operations, 56% in finance departments, 50% in sales, and 45% in products. 

(TechRepublic)

29. The combined big data and business analytics market amounted to $198.08 billion in 2020. 

Big data as a method allows organizations to examine complex and vast amounts of data, extract valuable insights, and improve decision-making. As a result, the combined big data and business intelligence market size is set to grow at a CAGR of 13.5% between 2021 and 2030 and reach $684.12 billion, business intelligence stats show.

(Allied Market Research)

30. According to projections, the global high-performance data analytics market was $48.6 billion in 2020. 

The pandemic has boosted the need for HPDA. The new forecast shows that by 2027 the market will hit $193 billion, growing at a CAGR of 21.8%. Moreover, one of the most important segments, hardware, is forecasted to reach $80.7 billion by the same period, at a staggering 22.5% CAGR. On another note, the growth of the software segment in the same period will be slightly lesser (21.4% CAGR). 

(Research and Markets)

31. In 2020, the US HPDA market was worth $14.5 billion. 

In line with business intelligence statistics, the HPDA market registered the highest tendency for growth in China, with a 21.3% CAGR. China is set to reach $33.7 billion by 2027. Canada and Japan are other important countries forecasted to grow in this segment, with 18.6% and 19.3%, respectively, between 2020 and 202. In Europe, Germany is the leader, with CAGR predictions of 15.3%. 

(Research and Markets)

32. With a 16% market share, SAP is the largest vendor for BI solutions. 

Some companies dominate the business intelligence industry. Next to SAP, Oracle has a fair market share (12%), followed by SAS (11%). Another important player in the field is IBM, with a 9% market share. Tableau (5%), Qlik (4%), Mathworks (4%), Palantir (3%), and MicroStrategy (2%) are some other notable vendors for BI solutions, business intelligence stats show.

(Finances Online)

33. Organizations implementing BI solutions register a 127% ROI in only three years. 

Organizations of all sizes use business analytics, industry data reveals. Also, companies have an option to measure the impact it has on their business operations. Namely,  based on Forrester’s research, the companies that have implemented BI solutions register a significant return on investment in a short time. 

(Tableau)

34. 91.6% of Fortune 1000 companies ramp up their investments in AI and big data. 

In line with recent research and business intelligence stats, 91.7% of companies invest in these areas in order to stay competitive. Although the driving power of investing in analytics, big data, and AI is fear of competition, an average enterprise can improve its profitability by harnessing the data. It’s as simple as learning more about customers, their purchase patterns, and trends. 

(ZDNet)

35. Poor quality data costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion. 

IBM’s research has shown that the yearly cost of poor-quality data is staggering. The reason behind this is that managers, decision-makers, knowledge workers, data scientists, and others have to accommodate bad data in their daily work, business intelligence statistics show. What is more, people under deadline correcting errors alone do not eliminate the root cause of this problem.

(HBR)

36. Banking comprises 13.9% of the revenue in the BI market. 

The banking sector is one of the largest in business intelligence. It accounts for approximately $204 million in revenues. Moreover, around 40% of organizations in this field claim that BI is vital to their operations. Factors driving the growth of this market are continuous improvement of user benefits, innovative tech, and increasing accessibility. 

(EPC Group)

37. Hospitality and telco put an emphasis on analytics, with 58% and 56%, respectively. 

According to business intelligence stats and research on companies with over $100 million in annual revenue reveal that some industries focus more on data analytics than others. For instance, two sectors that heavily rely on mobile business analytics platforms and apps are telecommunications and hospitality. 

(EPC Group)

BI in a Nuttshell

Hopefully, these statistics have painted a clearer picture for you. Business intelligence provides a competitive advantage to companies. By analyzing collected data, companies increase the understanding of their customers. Only then can they outperform their competition. Today, businesses have a vast array of tools at their disposal that could help them effectively analyze and interpret data. 

FAQs

By Ivan Blagojevic