Business Intelligence – or simply BI – help businesses make data-driven decisions based on a well informed and reliable source of information. Removing the gutfeel and replacing it with facts, so to speak.
In broad terms BI consist of:
Mining the data – extracting the original data from its source.
Analysis – identifying and grouping data.
Reporting – accessing and formatting data, often turning it in to meaningful visual reports.
The goal: Leaving you with the perspective required to make the decision at hand
By combining accurate data mining and strict validation of data combined from multiple sources, the company can use their favorite tools and get visualized data, thus helping them make better and more qualified decisions.
BI can combine both historical data and near real time data, and even put information in different automated reports. This feature allows user to subscribe for relevant reports and only see the information they are looking for. Example a store manager who wants to see how his business is performing and not have to deal with numbers from other divisions of the same company. The very same end user could however easily choose to compare his store with not only previous quarters, but other stores on the parameters he finds interesting.
In general, the reporting services can be set up by request and adjusted internally in the organization due to easy tools for extracting data.
When investigating the opportunities of Business Intelligence, it is normal practice to involve a BI consultant who can help you find a scalable and high performing solution.
Especially when your company is looking for a solution that allows self-service, the right setup is crucial.
Nowadays, more organizations are looking for self-service opportunities that makes it possible to extract helpful data in matters of seconds.
This requires a fast and accurate analytics platform that empowers end users by visualizing data and allowing the users to easily share results with colleagues.
One thing is for sure! In the future, the norm will be that businesses are using data in a smarter way then at the moments. Working smarter is the goal, not working harder.
