Vendors are to blame for many of the unsuccessful implementations of BI software in the past, according to leading performance management specialist Cartesis. Speaking to IT Week ahead of the Gartner BI Summit in London this week, the firm's chief marketing officer Crispin Read argued that BI vendors have been guilty of claiming to offer more functionality than their products actually have.

To ensure corporate data can be transformed into actionable business insight, firms need to include performance management software in their BI portfolio, he added. For example, the classic BI dashboard can illustrate the value of key performance indicators, but are unable to show whether they are meeting their targets – this requires performance management software to achieve.

"The industry can shoulder some responsibility for this," argued Read. "Many vendors positioned themselves as doing performance management before even getting it in their portfolios."

Read also explained that in the area of management reporting, poor communication between finance and IT could mean many firms are building their own in-house applications, while business users are seeking to buy in solutions.