A long with virtualisation, storage and the judicious adoption of open source, business intelligence is a technology that should see growth in tough times. During a boom, mistakes are easy to cover over with buoyant results. But there are few places to hide during a bust. A poor stock decision or bad investment now will almost certainly be ruthlessly exposed before too long.

More than ever, companies should be using BI to see where the value is, and where they could cut costs or where they could expand. But surprisingly, many companies are slashing BI spend as part of a wider approach to IT cost-cutting.