An Introduction to Business intelligence
Business intelligence, often referred to by the initials BI, is a computer based
method used by organizations for analysis. It is a broad category of technology,
and commonly thought of as a subset of competitive intelligence that focuses on
a company’s interaction with information. BI takes into account information
storage, development, research, access, and uses within organizations.
Business intelligence software programs provide companies with three forms of
information they can utilize to make decisions:
- Current data: Information about current business practices
- Historical data: information and data about past business transactions, market
conditions, and business strategies
- Future trends and forecasting data: Predicting future business practices based
on current and historical data
Six Uses for BI technologies There are multi important functions that BI
technologies can offer organizations:
- Identifying and extracting important business information and data: pulling
specific sets of data based on specific information and decision making needs
- Data reporting: Providing reports based on specific information needs
- Setting organization goals and objectives: Using data to support goal setting
and benchmarking
- Data mining: Examining data from multiple perspectives
- Performance analysis: Examining current performance to identify areas to improve
efficiency
- Forecasting: Using data to predict future actions and strategies
Goal of business intelligence
The main function of business intelligence is to support decision making at all
levels in the organization. The greater amount of data and information that can
be compiled about business operations, trends and competitor business
operations, the more accurate and appropriate decisions can be made by key
stakeholders.
For this reason BI systems are also thought of as decision support systems. They
analyze business data and processes and merge this information with competitive
intelligence efforts to output predictive actions and strategies that support
organizational direction and strategic decisions.
Business intelligence is about extracting as much data and information possible
within your company. Companies have to work through facts and statistics to make
the best possible decision. Information must be presented in a format that
allows for connections to be drawn about data sets, facts, and information.
BI initiatives
Business intelligence applications are used primarily for three types of
initiatives:
- Project or department specific initiatives
- Enterprise wide business strategies
- Special operations that are important to an organizations day to day operations
Business Intelligence and Web 2.0 Technology
Business intelligence applications have grown by leaps and bounds in the new
millennium. Many new tools and software applications have hit the market to help
organizations get better quality information to aid with organizational decision
making. These new tools allow companies to:
- Utilize dynamic querying
- Access real time data and information
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
SAP unveils on-demand BI tool for casual users Armed with the slogan “Instant insight for the rest of us,” the company announced its SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand offering for everyday users, while aiming to please the IT admin. IDC analyst Dan Vesset says the cloud portion of the BI market is expanding 
Friday, January 29, 2010
Round Table: Our predictions for 2010 IT World Canada editorial staff wrap up their end-of-year round table with some thoughts about what to watch for in 2010
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
SAP doesn’t want to build platforms At the SAP Influencer Summit 2009, a panel of execs talk about creating the “informed executive” with investments in on-demand business intelligence and collaboration tools. Why moving away from an ERP image doesn’t kill the software suite
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
SQL Power Wabit BI tool comes to enterprise users Wabit – no, not Elmer Fudd’s Wabbit – is now available in enterprise edition from SQL Power Group for those frontline workers previously chased away by overly complex business intelligence tools. One analyst said there is a market for user friendly BI tools, but the differentiation won’t last
Monday, November 16, 2009
Canadian BI vendor builds ‘Crystal 2.0’ Vancouver-based Indicee is building on its Crystal Report DNA with a tool that sits atop existing reporting infrastructures so users don’t have to think about data sources like Crystal Reports 
Thursday, October 29, 2009
SAS isn’t fazed by the competition Analytics abounds in Vegas this week, with overlapping conferences hosted by SAS and IBM. Jim Goodnight comments on companies playing in SAS’s space
Monday, October 26, 2009
Q&A: Robert Enslin, president, SAP North America The president of SAP North America sat down with ComputerWorld Canada to discuss SAP’s Canadian business, how the BI business model is evolving, and why having one company own the entire application stack (a la Oracle) will stifle innovation
Friday, October 09, 2009
DIY BI report generation from Tibco Tibco joins the do-it-yourself craze with its iProcess Spotfire, a BPM suite that allows users to gather data on business process metrics and have personalized reporting and analytics...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
NSERC grants $5 million to data management research The Business Intelligence Network, made up of Canadian researchers and vendors, will use the funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to improve various aspects of data management so that organizations can make better business decisions
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
IN BRIEF: Symantec’s dirtiest Web sites Some sites have more than 20,000 threats on them, according to the security company. Plus, recognizing the best in business intelligence, and a Vancouver ISP gives its services a 10 Mbps boost
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Enterprise migration path for department BI apps Business intelligence vendor MicroStrategy Inc. recently released Version 9 of its BI tool with capabilities to easily deploy departmental BI initiatives, and a migration path to consolidate those into an enterprise whole. One analyst says the company is filling a void in the market. WITH VIDEO
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Predicting with business intelligence
Businesses dont need
a crystal ball or a deck of cards to know what the future holds.
Software applications that can intelligently predict business trends
and aid business...
Sunday, April 13, 2003
Dashboards: Not just for execs anymore When people think of management dashboards, they often think of what used to be called executive information systems (EIS). An EIS provides a fancy computer display of key financial metrics for the corner office. But research by John Hagerty, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston, indicates that dashboards (also called scorecards) are showing up at all levels of the company and provide data other than financial metrics.
Monday, December 31, 2001
Boosting access to customer data As enterprises demand better tools to exploit mounds of customer data locked away in CRM systems, CRM companies are rushing to add analytical capabilities to their applications.
Sunday, December 02, 2001
Analytics redraw CRM lines As enterprises demand better tools to exploit mounds of customer data locked away in customer relationship management systems, CRM companies are rushing to add analytical capabilities to their applications.
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