As businesses start to use business intelligence, Gartner is reporting that many are using cloud computing to their advantage as well. A report shows that about 37 percent already use or plan to use SaaS services to augment business intelligence capabilities in the next year.

“If their operational business applications are in the cloud, organizations should consider pursuing cloud BI/analytics for those domains,” said James Richardson, research director at Gartner. “However, they must assess risks on an ongoing basis and ensure their chosen cloud provider has appropriate business skills to provide a viable outcome. They must also ensure their BI strategy outlines how to ensure that data flows to and from these solutions in order not to become yet more silos of analysis.”

Thus far, the Gartner survey said 17 percent of organizations have replaced or plan to replace business intelligence functions with the cloud, but with the amount who plan to use SaaS with business intelligence, that could quickly change.

The research firm said SaaS can save companies money over the first five years of implementation. However, after that time, most of the benefits result from reduced IT support costs and cash flow changes. With the economy not yet out of the doldrums, many companies are realizing adopting the cloud may help their businesses survive until the economic climate returns to normal.