Business Intelligence (BI) was recently listed by top analyst firm Gartner as one of the top 10 "What's Hot" technologies for 2009. Here are ten reasons why and how BI will be increasingly important in 2009.

1. There will be greater open source collaboration.
Web 2.0 technologies - blogs, wikis, online communities and social networking will lead to more collaboration and useful possibilities for turning information into action. The open source development model has influenced this a great deal. Eclipse's BIRT Project, founded and co-led by Actuate is just one of the forums in which BI tools are being utilized and innovated in a collaborative fashion.

2. RIAs will move from every home to every office.
Being able to quickly and efficiently turn data into easily understood reports for all stakeholders in the company is incredibly important. Consumer web applications from Netflix to Google Maps are influencing what people want from the business application experience they have at work and have increased the need to make RIAs an important part of the BI toolset. Workers need to feel as efficient as they do when they are at home managing their portfolio or planning a vacation.

3. Smarter applications will lead to smarter users will lead to smarter applications.
The more users master the rich, interactive functionality of RIAs in their BI experience, the more productive the experience becomes and the smarter the user becomes, leading to a call for even greater functionality. A virtuous cycle, if you will.

4. BI will play a part in recession-proofing.
In economic downturns companies that wish to remain competitive need to have the tools to understand and scrutinize things such as costs, margins and profitability of channels in order to stay profitable.

5. BI will move sustainability beyond green.
In a tough economy it is all the more important to be efficient and allocate resources for a sustainable future - both in terms of business continuity and "green" initiatives. For this you need an informed workforce that is aligned by accurate and relevant data. Plus, "going green" fits with consumer sentiment and conserving resources conserves cash.

6. BI will hold your data accountable before the government has to.
It's almost a given that there will be increased regulation in '09 - especially in industries such as financial services - and some of that regulation is sure to be aimed at requiring the collection and disclosure of more data. More data means a bigger need for data management.

7. Competition will increase.
Due to the pressure of economic woes - with everyone fighting for customers and dollars - and issues such as globalization, it's imperative that business decisions are made in an increasingly quicker, more informed fashion.

8. BI will mean wider access to informed analysis.
Informed analysis is needed at all levels of business. Decisions that affect the overall bottom line are made from C-level to Z-level. All decision makers need access to easily understood BI. Increased adoption and use of better BI tools enterprise-wide will make this possible.

9. Reporting will be more flexible.
Every department in the enterprise has increasing amounts of data but much of this is siloed, limiting it's usefulness to business decision makers in other areas. The sales team may have some great numbers on which product features resonated best with potential customers but if development can't make heads or tails of the spreadsheet sales provided, they can't take advantage of that knowledge. Smart BI vendors will insure that their products are as scalable as possible and are nimble enough to be viewed in the format of the user's choosing.

10. Increased Open Source BI Deployments
Open Source BI presence in the market will continue to expand because open source licenses are cost efficient but just as important those deploying the solutions will have the ability to customize their packages to specific business uses - especially in vertical markets. Although most won't really change the code, having that option will be very valuable to them.

Nobby Akiha is senior vice president of marketing at Actuate.