Nov 08, 2022
by Aisha

Business intelligence includes various processes like business analysis, data mining, data visualization, etc. to assist organizations in making more data-driven decisions. In actuality, you can tell if you have current business intelligence when you can leverage your organization's data to drive change, eliminate inefficiencies, and respond rapidly to supply or market changes. Regulated data on reliable platforms, flexible self-service analysis, empowered business users, and speed to insight are all highly valued by modern BI systems.

How does Business Intelligence work?

Every organization and business has set objectives and questions. In order to meet those objectives and resolve their queries, they require business intelligence tools. Through which they can collect the relevant data, analyze it, process it, and then conclude a decision. In the world of technology, the systems that different businesses use are extracted for their raw data. Once the data is attained and processed, it is then stored in files, warehouses, etc., and access is granted to users so they can analyze the data to provide solutions to business problems. BI also gives a platform for the visual representation of data, like charts, graphs, pictures, etc. Such features assist in providing a comprehensive and impressive presentation of data to stakeholders.

Methods used in Business Intelligence

Business intelligence does not consist of one specific thing. It includes various methods and processes for processing, storing, analyzing, and managing the data of companies.

These processes include

  • Data mining: to find anomalies, patterns, and trends in large data sets via statistics.
  • Reporting: give the data analysis to stakeholders so they can form conclusions and come to decisions.
  • Performance metric and benchmarking: to assess the overall level of performance by comparing previous data with present data.
  • Descriptive analytics: to utilize the pre-existing version of data to understand the current state and trends
  • Querying: is the process of asking the BI to dig for answers in a data set.
  • Statistical Analysis: utilizing the descriptive data results and further assessing the possible trends through statistics
  • Data visualization: converting the descriptive data into visual representations like graphs, charts, etc.
  • Visual analysis: to explore data with the help of pictorial representations
  • Data preparation: involves mixing data from different sources, stating the dimensions and measurements, and preparing for assessment.

Benefits of Business Intelligence

BI is more than just software; it's a means of maintaining a comprehensive and current picture of all your pertinent business data. Better analysis and increased competitive advantage is only a couple of the many advantages that come with BI implementation. Top business intelligence advantages include:

  • Data clarity
  • Increased efficiency
  • Better customer experience
  • Improved employee satisfaction
  • Data-driven business decisions
  • Quicker analysis
  • Enhanced competitive advantage
  • Trusted and governed data

Business Intelligence strategies

Effective and well-built business intelligence is considered a blueprint for the success of companies. In the early stages, you must decide how data will be used, identify critical roles, and specify responsibilities.

Stated below are steps to develop a BI strategy:

  1. Identify your goals and objectives for business.
  2. List the key stakeholders.
  3. Select a sponsor for your key stakeholders.
  4. Choose your BI tools and platform.
  5. Create a BI team.
  6. State your scope.
  7. Establish your data infrastructure.
  8. Define the road map and goals.

Categories of BI analysis

The business intelligence analysis can be viewed in three categories. It provides a wide range of coverage for the needs and uses for which BI can be utilized.

The three categories are descriptive analysis, predictive analysis, and prescriptive analysis.

Descriptive Analysis

The kind of data analysis that aids in constructively describing, displaying, or summarizing data points such that patterns may appear that satisfy all the criteria of the data It is essential for statistical data analysis.

Predictive Analysis

The process of forecasting future results and performance using statistics and modeling methods. With predictive analytics, data patterns from the past and present are examined to see if they are likely to recur.

Prescriptive Analysis

The technique of using data to decide on the best course of action is known as prescriptive analytics. This kind of analysis results in suggestions for the following stages, taking into account all pertinent aspects.

Advantages of Business Intelligence

Every company requires smart and well-informed business decisions in order to stay in business. BI tools help companies manage and analyze their business data in order to make good decisions and establish their firm's position in the competition. Listed below are some key advantages of having BI tools:

  • It assists in relevant and accurate reporting.
  • Provides a complete and comprehensive insight.
  • BI tools help companies create high-quality data.
  • It ensures improved customer satisfaction.
  • It improves growth patterns.
  • It provides efficiency and accuracy.
  • It enhances the ability to make decisions and reduces the time taken.
  • It provides opportunities to have a broader view of the decisions made. As a result, it improves functional efficiency and increases the chances of increasing revenue.
  • BI technologies can examine any disparities, inefficiencies, inaccuracies, etc. in the massive volumes of data. It increases profit margins, and the sales teams get stronger sales forecasting knowledge and budget analysis skills.

Disadvantages of Business Intelligence

Just as there are two sides to every story, business intelligence has advantages if used efficiently. However, if the tools are not used correctly, they can have disadvantages.

Some disadvantages are stated below:

  • The initial cost of BI tools can be expensive.
  • There is software that allows data manipulation. This could cause a misrepresentation of data.
  • Data integration can be tricky for users since a wide range of databases are used as sources.
  • Self-service BI may be a more affordable option for your company, but it needs supervision and management to avoid a disorganized data environment and inconsistent outcomes.
  • The data skills gap can become a challenge with BI tools.
  • User resistance.

Conclusion

For organizations to function better, educated decisions must be made. Business intelligence (BI) tools are equipped with all the extras required to make this happen. The myth that big businesses can only use business intelligence tools is no longer true. BI is appropriate for businesses of every scale.