Using scripting languages for BI
Ok, I am a programmer so it's slightly easier for me but almost all the BI work I do which can be anything from a simple tot up of e-comm sales to complex analysis from multiple data sources and web services I use Ruby as a script and put the data into MySQL.
I used to use Excel a lot and have made some nice financial analysis packages in the past but it's not suited now with so many different types and formats of data source, in my view.
A BI person, with a few days of Ruby/SQL training could, in my opinion, be extremely productive, and with a bit more training could automate those scripts to do lots of fancy things.