Two years ago, the business intelligence (BI) market was, if not full, then certainly bristling with a number of different solution providers. Today, there are far fewer. Oracle bought Hyperion, IBM acquired Cognos, and SAP forked out for Business Objects, reducing the number of vendors to a few large players and a handful of specialists. The specialists are happy with the uncertainty and the inevitable lag in R&D and product cycles that happen when one large competitor swallows another, but the big players are hopeful they`re one step closer to offering an end-to-end solution.

Fewer choices certainly makes BI easier to sell. Marc Scheepbouwer, managing director of Intellient, says although BI sales are now somewhat easier upfront, they also tend to be far more about strategy alignment than finding the right product for the right business need. "Acquisitions and consolidation in the market has meant there are fewer political hurdles within organisations. Customers are having to consolidate their BI and vendor strategies," he says.