The second decade of the 21st century is shaping up to become known as the “era of the business user,” with line-of-business leads taking an increasingly more prominent role in selecting and funding analytics programs. 

But it’s more than just footing the bill.  With business intelligence (BI)-related IT skills still in short supply, especially in SMBs, business users have had no choice but to take matters into their own hands, developing and deploying more of their own analytic applications.  And guess what? They like the freedom to pursue what’s important when it’s important.  These newly-empowered business users will significantly impact the course that BI, analytics, and performance management programs take over the next 12-24 months.

I recently spoke with a company that had to address a quick-cycle analytics issue. Business analysts built a transportation planning application that modeled shipping prices, combining internal rate data with externally available statistics from trade publications.   The intelligence they garnered from this work had a long-term impact on how the company priced its services, and helped gain market share. 

The SVP of IT was in awe.  His takeaway:  “You can put bolts on the front door, but the smart ones will kick in the cellar window to get what they want. I’ve been through fundamental shifts like this before.  You need to embrace it, not fight it. Self-service analytics is very appealing. Business users will be getting the right data and then doing a lot more with it.”

How does IT in SMBs best enable the business user? As the second decade of the 21st century starts, this issue must be addressed head on.  Although there isn’t a simple answer, it can’t be an “us vs. them” approach. Both IT and business must jointly solve the issue, each supporting the other in whatever ways make sense.