Because of the previous high cost of BI and analytics tools, users were limited to a small number of power users within organizations. But Barnes has noted over the last 12-18 months, more users are gaining access to BI tools and capabilities. "And this is driving the desire to want to learn, investigate, model and play," he added.

Forrester research indicates that BI maturity varies widely across Asia and Barnes believes cultural differences will continue to have a major impact on BI spending, adoption and usage patterns. He observes in general AP organizations have a higher demand for data exploration rather than analysis. However, he expects that lower cost tools and the exuberance of both end users and IT staff will increase penetration of access to BI capabilities.

Barnes also noted that in-memory analytics is gaining traction across the region, but is primarily growing in large enterprises with mature IT infrastructure and expertise. "In-memory is being adopted within areas where real-time or near real-time analysis of very large volumes of data is a primary objective, such as risk management, diagnostics, customer sentiment analysis," Barnes added.