2001: A Data Odyssey

by Curt Hall

To kick off the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss the important developments and trends influencing the application of data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) technology. My goal is to offer some advice on a rapidly changing set of technologies that is moving in many different directions. Although the title "2001: A Data Odyssey" may strike readers as somewhat corny, I used it for the simple reason that data has become the lifeblood of our Internet information economy. Please note that by "Internet information economy," I am referring not only to dot-coms but to any industry that expects to survive and prosper in the e-business age. Almost two years ago, I wrote, "We are entering a period in which data warehousing/BI applications are becoming one of the most important strategic corporate information systems" (see " The State of the Data Warehousing Industry," BIA, March 1998, [then Data Management Strategies]).