More than half (54%) of professionals would choose a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) solution for over an on-premise solution. Just 14% of respondents said they would implement on-premise solutions, while the other 32% had no preference.
To conduct the report, market research company Dimensional Research surveyed 403 professionals who are involved in selecting, implementing or using BI software. Birst, a business intelligence and analytics solution provider, sponsored the study, which was designed to evaluate differences in experiences and outcomes between cloud-based and on-premise BI solutions.
Perhaps most importantly, 53% of respondents whose companies use a cloud solution said their current BI system offered a single solution for all organizational BI needs. Users of traditional on-premise (36%) and open source (28%) systems haven’t had the same success in consolidating their offerings.
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According to the study, the majority (80%) of cloud-based BI users were satisfied with their current solution. In comparison, slightly more than half (51%) of traditional on-premise users were satisfied with their solution.
Most respondents (68%) believed there was no discernible difference between solutions when it came to decision-making purposes. Of the remainder of professionals who did believe there was a difference in the solutions, 27% said cloud-based solutions enabled better decision-making, as opposed to only 5% who preferred on-premise solutions.
Cloud-based solutions also can be implemented at a faster rate than on-premise solutions, according to 83% of respondents. This indication was further confirmed by the 68% of cloud users who said their solution was installed within three months. In comparison, 38% of on-premise users and 35% of open source users said their solution was installed in the same time frame.
For less tech-savvy business users, cloud-based solutions may be the best option due to their relative ease-of-use. A majority of respondents (59%) said cloud solutions are easier to use than other BI solutions. Cloud BI systems also typically require less training than on-premise solutions, regardless of whether the trainee is a business user, an administrator or a developer.
More Support Required With On-Premise Solutions
An overwhelming 80% of respondents said more administrators were required to support on-premise solutions, compared to only 2% who believed more administrators were needed to support cloud-based systems. Even with the lack of necessary administrative support, 56% of respondents said cloud BI solutions have a greater percentage of employee access than on-premise solutions. Not coincidentally, more than half (51%) of respondents said cloud BI systems also have a greater percentage of employees who access them regularly, as opposed to the 18% who said the same for on-premise solutions.
