Summary: In this week’s article roundup, we learn how Business Intelligence (BI) helps companies make smarter/faster decisions, critical cloud considerations, why IT still struggles with mobile, and more.

Use of enterprise mobile apps growing
The impact of mobile apps on business is as significant and fundamental as it is on consumers. The difference is that enterprise mobile apps have to be more secure, robust and capable of linking to back-office databases and repositories. However, recent research suggests that companies are increasingly working toward deploying mobile apps, but challenges remain.

Why BI will help your company make smarter, faster decisions
Recent research reveals that businesses investing in BI (platforms, solutions, and employee training) stand to gain a 60% improvement on the return on their data assets. BI tools provide all employees with the information and insights they require to become more effective in their respective roles.

Cloud ROI: 4 critical considerations
There are two opposed schools of thought about public cloud computing versus internal IT. Some argue that it’s less expensive, more efficient, and at least equally secure to treat compute power as a utility. On the other hand, others believe IT should remain in-house, and that you can’t drive competitive advantage using undifferentiated cloud resources, or outsourced IT in general. Where is the cloud actually headed? I believe we’ll see something in the middle. Companies will move some applications to the cloud, while keeping some in-house.

Why IT’s mobility efforts still fall short
Supporting a mobile workforce and connecting to a mobile customer base are both critical to companies looking to build frictionless IT — an IT strategy and infrastructure that would allow companies to quickly react to new opportunities.