Clinton Jacobs, analyst for BMI-T, recently asked vendors at a Brainstorm roundtable how companies should best embark upon the journey into BI and big data. He also asked what possible relevance the technologies could have for mid-market companies and SMMEs.

Cedric Labuschagne, director at Avanade SA, says it’s necessary to assess the available data assets and then work with customers to establish a BI strategy and a road map. “We take one step at a time and go through the BI value chain, turning it into data, into information, into knowledge and into decisions,” he explains.