Business intelligence (BI), like many business applications, is either loved or hated by its users. It’s either ‘head over heels I can’t move without it’ or ‘oh no, not that thing’. Whichever side of the divide you’re on, it has certainly entrenched itself in company infrastructures these past 20-odd years. The question is – is it doing any good?

Several criticisms are frequently leveled at BI – that it can only tell you what’s already happened, that the executives meant to be using it to make decisions ignore it as just another pretty icon, and that it’s falling out of fashion as the big names behind it struggle to adjust their applications, and business models, to the wonderful world of always-on, anywhere, anytime, via any device.