Business intelligence never stands still.
In a rapidly changing landscape, even experts need to work hard to stay abreast of the latest developments and insights.
Countless resources exist to shepherd business intelligence users through these fluctuating ideas and frequent innovations.
Below is a collection of the best. Many reflect unique perspectives from across the field of business intelligence: analysts, freelance writers, and executive technology officers.
Others cover distinct aspects of business intelligence, zeroing in on specific subjects like market growth and consolidation, or the role of BI in a small business.
Still more provide a fresh take on contemporary issues and news, offering insightful analysis that goes beyond the surface headlines.
Criteria used to select the bloggers included the quality of their writing and insights, size of their following, and their impact on the BI community.
Each represents a valuable resource for anyone interested in business intelligence. Check them out below (in no particular order):
1. TechnoSocial Blog
BI Application Specialist Rajasekar Nonburaj works as a consultant for SAP, and is renowned as the founder of the BI professionals LinkedIn network. His blog includes articles which are featured routinely in various IT publications, and addresses topics such as BI vendor selection and social media analytics.
2. Smart Data Collective
This data and analytics blog has a designated section for business intelligence topics, gathering voices from a cross-section of experts in the business intelligence field. BI fields are subdivided into business rules, decision management, knowledge management, market research, and CRM.
3. BI Analysis
BI Analysis is curated by Diego Arenas, a SQL-focused blogger with broad experience with many different business intelligence vendors. He reviews several platforms and covers topics like open data. His posts are in Spanish but are easily translated via GoogleTranslate.
4. In(tegrate) the Clouds
SnapLogic employee Darren Cunningham runs In(tegrate) the Clouds, which covers business intelligence within the Cloud, and general software-as-a-service industry issues.
5. Upstream Info
Augusto Albeghi, the founder of the BI startup Straysoft and a noted BI consultant, writes on industry trends at Upstream Info. His posts are in-depth but freewheeling and express subjects such as data warehousing issues, big data cautionary tales, and Hadoop in an entertaining manner.
6. AllformZ BI Blog
Maintained by Ramesh Babu, this blog offers a variety of educational resources to advance professional understanding of business intelligence. Posts include links to open online courses and resources to supplement these courses. The blog also includes a “bookstore” of relevant reading, and his personal site includes BI-related discussions.
7. Forbes Blog: Bruno Aziza and The Tribulations of an Analytical Mind
Formerly a BI analyst for Microsoft and currently with Alpine Now, Bruno Aziza is the author of “Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution.” His blog The Tribulations of an Analytical Mind has not recently been updated, but includes insightful commentary on the development of business intelligence. He frequently contributes to Forbes.
8. B-Eye Network Channel: BI & Integration – Colin White
BI Research Founder and President Colin White maintains a blog with whitepapers, case studies, industry analysis, and insight on BI topics. Subjects addressed include Hadoop issues and collaborative BI.
9. Business Intelligence
This deceptively simple blog title is run by Howard Dresner, the man known throughout the BI industry as the “father of business intelligence” for bringing the phrase into the public consciousness in 1989. His blog is full of forward-thinking posts and BI wisdom that anticipates industry trends.
10. Peter James Thomas
Peter James Thomas is an expert in the data to information to insight to action journey. His blog is an award-winning site addressing best practices in business intelligence and articles discussing the impact of BI on culture and society. His technical posts are made easy to read by supplemental cartoons and illustrative references to everyday life.
11. Key 2 Consulting
A tech-heavy consulting blog that covers BI issues related to SQL. It is curated by business intelligence resource manager Tiffany Heffner.
12. Business Intelligence Products and Trends and B-eye Network Blog: Barney Finucane
Barney Finucane’s BI blog purports not to cover industry news but rather to “address hype issues” and thoroughly clarify misinformation and popular misconceptions. His wordpress blog aggregates content from vendors across the web in a single dashboard, giving readers a colorful snapshot of daily news.
13. The Data Doghouse
Run by author and professor Rick Sherman, this blog focuses on BI in the context of data warehousing and decision support systems (DSS). The blog covers updates in the field and includes info on upcoming conferences and events related to the author’s interests. His latest book is the Business Intelligence Guidebook – From Data Integration to Analytics.
14. Meta Analysis
This BI analytics blog covers the topic from every conceivable angle. Posts range from text analysis to the importance of storytelling as a data analyst. It is put together by consultant and author Meta Brown, who is the author of Data Mining for Dummies.
15. Ms. SQL Girl
This blog addresses topics and issues surrounding Power BI, SQL platforms, and other related tools. The author is Julie Koesmarno, an expert in Microsoft platforms and a consultant with Lobster Pot Solutions.
17. Business Analytics News
Marcus Borba’s blog draws on his in-depth technological knowledge of business analytics as a CTO with Brazilian company Spark Strategic Business Solution. In addition to complex analysis he also writes articles debunking common BI myths.
18. Business Intelligence: Process, People, and Products
Although not updated since 2011, Vish Agashe’s blog is a valuable resource for BI users who want to learn more about data governance, data quality, and their effects on a business intelligence system.
19. Decideo.fr: Francophone Community of Business Intelligence Users
Independent analyst Phillipe Nieuwbourg runs this site of news, analysis, and opinion on business intelligence from the French perspective. The site is in French and can be translated using Google Translate.
20. BI Scorecard
Industry analyst and renowned product reviewer Cindi Howson is the founder of BI Scorecard and author of Successful Business Intelligence: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data. The blog includes reviews and commentaries on major industry news.
21. TDWI: Business Intelligence Portal
The Data Warehousing Institute offers a premier aggregation of expert content on business intelligence from a variety of leading writers in the industry. Curators on BI include Boris Evelson, Wayne Eckerson, and Nancy Williams.
21. TDWI: Business Intelligence Portal
22. Ventana Research: Perspectives by David Menninger
As Ventana Research’s Vice President, David Menninger is the director of BI research. His blog is a hub of industry thought-leadership and in-depth analysis regarding the development and use of BI.
23. James Kobelius’ Blog
Former Forrester BI analyst James Kobelius, now working for IBM, keeps up a healthy stream of insights on his unique blog. Stylized similar to Tumblr, he posts brief snippets, ideas, and links to articles, sometimes written by him, relating specifically to big data analytics and innovation in the BI industry.
