Business Intelligence (BI) is traditionally seen as viable for the larger enterprise only. But it is now within reach for small and medium sized-businesses, according to this whitepaper commissioned by Microsoft.

Large corporations have already adopted BI: the earliest adopters ained the greatest advantage. Now, for the very large ones, the process is returning to stasis. All of them use BI so it is more the case that the advantage belongs to those who use it more effectively. So the advantage, in terms of a percentage, has dropped significantly.

The application to smaller businesses is clear. Since the take-up has so far been minimal, the initial, huge, competitive advantage is still up for grabs.