Mobile Business Intelligence

With today’s Business Intelligence (BI) tools, businesses can move quickly and begin analyzing data rather than waiting for Information Technology (IT) to run complex reports. Access to this shared information helps users substantiate decisions that would otherwise be based solely on intuition and biased opinions (Kelly, 2010). These tools have evolved from narrowly focused queries and reports to enterprise-wide platforms (Shaw, 2011). This resulting single source offers not only current, but also historical and predictive views of operations. In addition to this evolution to enterprise-wide platforms, self-service techniques have emerged and acquisitions have led to consolidation of the BI market. As a result, the major players in the sector range from a dwindling supply of pureplay vendors to enterprise software suppliers that include IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP (Shaw, 2011). While the ability to deliver analytical data and company metrics on mobile devices was being developed, it was not very popular in the eyes of C-level executives, being viewed as an expense whose value did not justify the additional costs. These costs, and a combination of social and technical barriers, led to sporadic adoption of mobile devices (Smalltree, 2007). ABSTRACT