Business Intelligence guide
Business Intelligence has evolved over the years and become the core of what has been transforming how companies work. With BI, you can easily identify trends, make better decisions, pinpoint problems, and optimize your business' performance.
In this post we will be discussing:
What is Business Intelligence?
Why is it crucial for your company?
The primary benefits of having a BI strategy based in place.
What are some other ways to get started on a Business Intelligence strategy that doesn’t involve an expensive system?
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Business intelligence (BI) is used to describe anything that lets an organization know what is going on within itself and its environment. BI has two main elements: reporting and analytics. Reporting involves consuming information that has already been collected and organized as data. Analytics involves organizing, processing and interpreting this data to identify trends and make predictions based on these trends (Kawula).
Reporting is the first element, reporting is a mechanism that enables organizations to collect and display data. Reporting systems also allow organizations to perform analysis on the data they have collected. In some cases; it may not be possible to use standardized reporting. For example, a medical facility may need more detailed information than available in reports which usually only show statistical information (2011). Another example is the amount of data collected and stored by an organization when using a BI system. In many cases, this data may be too difficult to analyze efficiently with standard reporting tools. Many BI systems are designed with the intention of making it easier for their users to get started with analytics without having an overwhelming amount of data to analyze (Kawula).
Analytics is the second element of BI, analytics enables organizations to gather information from multiple sources and analyze this data to achieve goals (Kawula). The objective of analytics is to make more informed decisions about the future; so that companies can improve their fortunes. Analytics is a broad term and covers any type of analysis that can give businesses insights into their performance. Analytics consists of three main activities: descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analysis. Descriptive analysis allows businesses to get a better understanding of what they currently do. Predictive analysis helps them predict the future based on current trends. This includes identifying areas where they need to improve or where they should invest in order to avoid any problems in the future (Kawula).
Business Intelligence systems are designed to assist in every aspect of business operations (Kawula). With BI, it is possible for organizations to collect, store and analyze data about any aspect of their operation. The benefits of BI go beyond just being able to gather information. Analytics can be used in many different ways that can change the direction of an organization (Kawula). One specific way is by identifying trends that indicate when it may be necessary to make a change in a business model. BI is particularly useful in helping companies to react quickly in order to make these changes. For example, BI could be used by employers to identify trends relating to the number of employees working part-time or the number of staff that are likely to leave their company in the near future. These changes may be able to save employers from losing vital employees (Kawula).
BI can also be used for business planning as it allows organizations to identify critical areas where they will suffer losses if they do not take preventative measures. There are several ways BI can assist with predicting future opportunities for an organization. BI can be used to identify trends in opportunities, threats and risks. This allows companies to make informed decisions about their future direction. Another benefit of BI is that it can include many different sources of data in its analysis. This opens the possibility of analyzing an organization’s operations based on data from all departments or individual employees (Kawula).
Business Intelligence strengthens an organization’s capacity for effective decision making, which is crucial for long-term success (Kawula). Every company collects a lot of information but is not always updated on what other departments do or what customers think (Kawula).
Conclusion
Business Intelligence is a key for every company, but it is not only cost effective and easy to set in place, it can also help make better decisions with the information it provides. BI system allows organizations to collect, store and analyze different information related to their operations. It is essential for businesses to have an updated version of their data in order to reach the best possible decisions. This information can be analyzed in different ways that will allow businesses to avoid making bad decisions or even take advantage of opportunities that arose unexpectedly.
BI tools are not limited only by vendors but clients may use shared tools instead (Kawula). BI tools are used by companies globally; they are mainly used by analysts but other users may get access.