I'm told blogs are supposed to be short and sweet. So my long- winded blog on BI industry consolidation turned into, well, an article - longer, carefully considered, supporting graphs and all. While all this vendor activity fuels the gossip and speculation among analysts, journalists, and vendors, some customers have been decidedly unfazed. Does it help them fix their data quality problems? Nope. Executive level buy-in. No way. Improve the business-IT partnership. Sadly, no, here too.The BI platform is critical; it's what the business users see, touch, and interact with. Fail to get that right and the data warehouse is data wasteland. So yes, how BI buying will change as a result of industry consolidation is an important matter. Take this poll to share how it affects your company.

But remember, there is more to BI success than just debating which tool to use or which vendor to build a relationship with. Let's spend more time thinking about how to make BI relevant beyond power users.

On that note, I'm pleased to say that my long-awaited book on this topic arrived just in time for the holidays! I hope you will find the words of wisdom from seven leading companies as inspiring as I have! And I thank those of you who took the survey! Cindi Howson, Founder, BIScorecard, a Web site for in-depth BI product reviews Author: Successful Business Intelligence: Secrets to Making BI a Killer App Author: Business Objects XI (R2): The Complete ReferenceThe BI platform is critical; it's what the business users see, touch, and interact with. Fail to get that right and the data warehouse is data wasteland. So yes, how BI buying will change as a result of industry consolidation is an important matter... But let's spend more time thinking about how to make BI relevant beyond power users.