* Business intelligence has become more pervasive. The performance, availability, and user interfaces of BI products in the market have improved significantly over the years.

This enables deployment of decision support and automation functionality to a broader spectrum of users. In turn, it has raised the visibility of BI across various departments and most importantly, at the boardroom level, which has helped to break down the "information silos" that tend to persist in organizations moving down this path.

* The CFO's office has been one of the key stakeholders in the evolution of Business Analytics; the finance department is starting to see the benefits of budgeting and planning tools as part of a broader performance management framework to drive operational efficiency throughout the organization.