Making informed business decisions has always been a challenge for companies of any size. Assembling, cleansing, verifying and ultimately analyzing data requires difficult work and expertise.

With the right BI tools, they can eliminate troublesome data silos and optimize business operations to gain a competitive advantage.

Determining whether to buy your BI tools or build them yourself often becomes the first difficult question when embarking on a BI initiative. The market for BI software has matured, and businesses have more options than ever. They can build a BI system that is unique to their needs, purchase packaged software, or subscribe to BI as a service. This business guide outlines the major considerations with each of these options.