He also added that the industry still hangs on to the dated belief that there has to be a single repository for all data. "Data can and will reside in many different and separate systems," he said. "Let's leave the data there and focus on getting complete and quick access to this data as and when users need it."

SAS has developed tools to aid this process as well as deliver on the promise of providing users with easier access to data and giving more users the ability to leverage analytics. "Companies today want to give their staff the ability to manipulate and dissect data without the need for IT," Goodnight said.

IT organizations should not fear this prospect but find ways to enable it so they can free up further time to work on areas that create more value for the business.

Michael Barnes, vice president & research director at Forrester also noted the rising demand by information workers for more BI access and control.

He added that in Asia Pacific there is always an adoption lag for technologies particularly in BI and analytics. "Culturally, Asia has a greater tendency to "tinker" with applications and information and the typical lag will make this trend even more pronounced," said Barnes.