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Featured Dresner Research
Research Insight and Wisdom of Crowds® reports offer the most comprehensive and objective insights available for data, analytics, and performance management. Our process is global, encompassing thousands of organizations across all industries, functions, and organization sizes.
Wisdom of Crowds® Market Reports
Wisdom of Crowds® Market Reports offer in-depth research and reporting on key industry and technology topics, including user trends, perceptions, intentions and other drivers. Each report includes a section with objective and inclusive vendor ratings.
Analytical Data Infrastructure 2025
Analytical data infrastructure (ADI) defines a set of technology components for integrating, modeling, managing, storing, governing, and accessing data sets that serve as sources for analytic/business intelligence (BI) applications, tools, and users.
The 9th edition of this annual report focuses on the capabilities of database / management platforms for analytical use cases. These include on-premises and cloud-deployed databases and specialty databases for analytic users / use cases.
Business user reporting and dashboards, and business user discovery and exploration were the top two ADI use cases, showing continued perceived importance among users. Data science, followed by embedded analytics continue to represent increased priorities, reaching their highest level of importance in 2025.
Embedded Business Intelligence 2024
The 12th annual Embedded Business Intelligence Market Study examines end user trends in embedded business intelligence (BI), the technological capability to include BI features and functions as an inherent part of another application.
In it we assess the importance and adoption of embedded BI, architecture and feature requirements, and targeted applications. According to the study, interest in embedded BI varies but stands at a consistently high level across all functions and roles. Importance is highest in the sales and marketing, BI/analytics competency center, and executive management functions.
Top objectives for embedded BI are to enhance access to existing reports/analysis, and to provide internal application users with in-context insight and analysis. Viewed by industry, 2024 current use of embedded BI is greatest among respondents in the healthcare, government, technology, and consumer services verticals.
Analytical Platforms 2024
Analytical Platforms are integrated technology environments that include all needed functionality to support multiple analytical or BI use cases, including data engineering, data catalog, self-service BI, data science and machine learning, embedded BI or analytics, and cloud support.
Our 4th annual Analytical Platforms Report reflects a dynamic landscape where the conversation around platforms gained considerable momentum. In this edition, we delve into the critical question facing many organizations today: whether to adopt a single-vendor technology platform that offers a comprehensive suite of core analytical and BI capabilities, or to pursue a “best-of-breed” approach that combines specialized solutions from multiple providers. This decision is increasingly pivotal as organizations work to consolidate resources, streamline analytics operations, and ensure scalability.
Research Insights
Published throughout each month, Research Insights are thought leadership articles, covering important topics and issues, with pointed advice and recommendations for readers.
Invest in Data and Analytics to Mitigate Economic Uncertainty and the Rising Cost of Capital
Since 2022, Dresner Advisory Services has researched how significant external forces impact organizations (see the Research Insights “Data Leaders Need to Prepare for the Challenges That External Forces Will Pose” and “Mitigate Short-Term Negative Economic Impacts and Pivot for Growth by Investing in BI and Analytics”).
Our most-recent data from the second half of 2024 show (once again, and by a sizeable margin) that economic uncertainty most frequently hindered organizations (58 percent reporting significant or moderate negative impact—down 2 percentage points year over year). That high mark was followed (once again) by staffing and recruitment (46 percent indicating significant or moderate negative impact—down 7 percentage points year over year). Two new survey responses—cost of capital and security issues—were added in 2024. Organizations cited cost of capital next most often as an impediment (with 40 percent ascribing it significant or moderate negative impact).
Drive the Right Investments During This Peak of the Data and Analytics Investment Cycle
Business intelligence (BI), analytics, and data capabilities sit at the core of all successful, Hyper-Decisive® organizations. They embed data and analytics in strategic initiatives, driving transformation (to digital), innovation (new product development), and financial management (enterprise performance management—EPM). In addition, they always look for ways to bolster these capabilities to apply data and analytics more broadly and consistently throughout the organization.
Data leaders who guide their organizations in actively applying BI to strategic business processes—and not merely deliver traditional “reporting” and routine management—generate the greatest value and most frequently attain the highest levels of BI success. This requires monitoring and actively driving the right balance of investments as determined by a Hyper-Decisiveness strategy, and aligned to strategic plans to build and extend coordinated data and analytics capabilities throughout an organization.
Make BI Tool Consolidation a Priority in 2025
he pace of BI tool consolidation projects increased in recent years and now sits at an all-time high level, with 36 percent of organizations reporting plans to consolidate business intelligence (BI) tools. Organizations reporting high degrees of success in their BI initiatives more frequently plan and successfully execute BI tools consolidations.
By promoting and guiding their organizations through refinement of their portfolios of BI tools, data leaders can reduce costs and deliver greater returns from BI investments. Although organizations most frequently cite cost reduction and ease-of-use improvements as the main drivers for this work, our most recent data show additional drivers increasingly present, including alignment with strategic direction or corporate standards, improved functionality, and desire to remove unused shelfware. The latter represents the fastest-growing driver of tool consolidation in the last year.
Special Reports
Specialized reports rely on data collected directly from customers on a subset of vendors to provide an unbiased comparison within the broader market context.
Vena vs. Workday EPM
This special report examines the offerings and positioning of two major players in the EPM market: Vena Solutions (Vena) and Workday Adaptive Planning (Workday) and compares them on key aspects such as usability, integration capabilities, performance, scalability, and support. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of how each platform meets the needs of modern enterprises and supports their overall performance management initiatives.
Anaplan vs. Pigment EPM
This special report examines the offerings and positioning of two major players in the EPM market: Anaplan and Pigment and compares them on key aspects such as usability, integration capabilities, performance, scalability, and support. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of how each platform meets the needs of modern enterprises and supports their overall performance management initiatives.
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