The expansion of cloud business intelligence (BI) platforms, the current software market acquisition cycle, and the need for digital acceleration due to the COVID-19 pandemic can provide impetus for BI tools consolidation. Although the overall number of organizations planning to consolidate their BI tools is low, the ability to achieve successful BI outcomes increases for enterprise organizations combining BI tools consolidation with an integrated analytics and data management strategy.
Although our data show that corporate standards and strategic initiatives drive BI tools consolidation, on their own, they will not provide the levels of success organizations hope to achieve. Although larger organizations have the ability and infrastructure to create a top-down approach to BI tools consolidation, they may overlook change management requirements and the importance of outcomes-based solution implementation. Achieving success through BI tools consolidation requires aligning any actions to tangible financial outcomes.