Boy, how things have changed. Just think about how fast information is transmitted today. In 1805, it took six weeks before word of Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar reached Montreal. Now, news from any remote place in the world is flashed to the rest of the world in a matter of seconds. So it goes in business intelligence (BI) circles, where how a company receives and processes critical business information can mean the difference between a firm that is recording its financial ledgers in black ink or red. Perhaps that explains why Reuters Business Insight pegs the business intelligence marketplace at $35 billion in 2004, and says it is growing at a seven-percent annual clip. "For information-driven companies, data is the most strategic corporate asset," explains Clive Harrison, EVP of worldwide field operations at Informatica, a BI software developer.
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