Business intelligence is certainly a good area to be in right now. It is expanding faster than any other area of the enterprise application landscape. According to Gartner (an American information technology research and advisory firm), the business intelligence market (including data warehouses and CRM analytics) is growing nine percent per year. While it was worth $57 billion at the end of 2010, it will surge to $81 billion by 2014 and as high as $136 billion by 2020. Because analytics is the "combustion engine of business," organizations invest in business intelligence even when times are tough. Gartner predicts the next big phase for business intelligence will be a move toward more simulation and extrapolation. Gartner surveys show most users still focus on measurement of the past, with only 13 percent of users making extensive use of predictive analytics. Less than 3 percent use prescriptive capabilities such as decision/mathematical modelling, simulation and optimization. "This trend is changing as organizations express an interest in increasing their use of advanced styles of analytics," said Sallam (analyst at Gartner).To know more go to: