However, he added that because the company has a diverse user base that includes both power users and novices, Seagate would like to see Business Objects offer more guided analysis tools. "We need some more tools we can provide to that user who doesn't know what the next step is ... to be able to guide them through to some recommended actions," Berg said.

Allstate, Young said, put together a road show to garner buy-in from key IT and business users.

"We needed to make sure there weren't other initiatives going on in the company that would be derailed by our project," he said. "We started to bring in key contacts from different development groups and negotiate timelines."

However, he noted that the company still is grappling with data integration challenges.