In a recently released study by AMR Research, Boston, global spending on Business Intelligence (BI) is expected to reach $57.1 billion for the year 2008. The research surveyed 400 information technology and business leaders across Europe, China , and US. And in US, Business Intelligence and performance management (PM) is also expected to grow by 4.2 percent over its previous year spending of $24.7 billion.

Furthermore, external consulting spending on BI is projected to surpass $20.8 billion or 37 percent of total BI spending this year. And long-term sustainable is likely for BI spending for the next three to five years. Such growth is mainly attributed to the rising demand for external consulting services as well as analytic infrastructure technologies including data warehouses and data marts.

In 2007, BI and PM spending is concentrated in planning, forecasting and analytic applications while 2008 is focused in infrastructure related applications. According to John Hagerty, AMR analyst and co-author of the report, the swing from spending on business-user-oriented software to more IT and infrastructure-related technologies is an indication that companies are building out their BI and PM programs.

The market figures used in the said research are based entirely on enterprise user statements; budget plans for spending on BI and reporting tools; dash boards and scorecarding products; planning, budgeting and forecasting applications; analytical infrastructure; and analytical applications.

AMR Research is founded in 1986. It is based in Boston , USA . The company provides subscription advisory services and peer networking opportunities to operations and IT executives in the consumer products, life sciences, manufacturing and retail sectors.