Before adopting a cloud business intelligence solution, a company must delineate its approach to the cloud BI concept.

Business intelligence (BI) in the cloud is a hot topic within many companies. As with all new concepts, there is the inevitable level of confusion and uncertainty regarding how to proceed. To demystify the topic, I believe things need to go back to the basics. For many companies wanting to understand BI and their cloud strategy, the first area of focus would be on actually defining a viable ‘cloud business intelligence strategy’. Only once the strategy has been defined does it make sense to evaluate the product(s) and associated vendor(s) that can support this strategy – and from here, to define the critical success factors for successful cloud BI adoption.