Why Do Enterprises Still Rely on Legacy Business Intelligence?

In a rapidly changing technological environment, many enterprises still rely on legacy business intelligence (BI) systems, such as IBM's Cognos and SAP's Business Objects, due to their deep integration with traditional data analysis workflows and the significant investment required to maintain them. These systems, which evolved from early data cube technologies to integrated solutions providing comprehensive reporting and analytical capabilities, remain entrenched despite their limitations in a cloud-first world due to their inability to leverage the real-time data processing power of cloud data warehouses. The high cost of ownership, including licensing, maintenance, and infrastructure, along with the lack of innovative updates from parent companies, poses a challenge for businesses seeking modernization. However, the robust table-centric analytical capabilities and user familiarity with these legacy systems make transitioning to new BI tools difficult. As companies increasingly turn to cloud-based solutions, the emergence of BI 3.0 tools like Sigma offers potential alternatives for ad-hoc and operational reporting by utilizing cloud data warehouses more effectively, although legacy systems currently remain integral to many business intelligence strategies.