Gartner says worldwide business intelligence (BI) spending will grow 11 percent in 2008. This is despite major consolidation among BI vendors in 2007 and growing fears of an upcoming economic slowdown, according to a press statement issued by the analyst firm recently.

"The worldwide market for BI platforms is forecast to reach $5.8 billon in 2008, an 11.2 percent increase from 2007. Worldwide BI platform revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent through 2012, to reach $7.7 billion in 2012. Gartner analysts expect BI platform revenue to be less affected by an economic downturn than some other technologies because of the high priority BI platforms hold with CIOs. BI was the number-one technology priority in 2008 in a worldwide survey of 1 500 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs," the statement said. Gartner analysts discussed the outlook for the BI market at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit held in April. "The fact that BI has held the top spot with CIOs in this survey for three years running makes us believe that BI will be more resilient against the effects of a possible downturn in IT spending than some other technologies," says Dan Sommer, senior research analyst for Gartner. "Furthermore, the survey indicates that CIOs are looking to increase their budgets for BI by about 11 percent this year."