What is Business Intelligence?




Greg, a small supermarket operations manager, is tired of wasting resources, as many of his goods end up not bought at the end of a month, especially food stuff like bread and perishable goods as they get to spoil easily, therefore reducing the revenue incurred by the store. So he decides to get intelligent in his stocking of goods in his supermarket. He starts with 1 good at a time; he buys all the usual brands of bread, bread A, bread B, and bread C, for the case of analogy. He observes the way customers relate to the 3 different brands of bread available. A man walks into the supermarket and buys bread B, a woman walks in 10 minutes later and buys bread B. At different intervals people come in to buy bread and at the end of the day, Bread B makes 25 sales, Bread A makes 11 sales, while Bread C makes 2. He then makes a decision to buy more Bread A than Bread B and not buy bread C at all the next day. At the end of the next day, he sold almost all, but found out that bread A was sold completely and bread B had 3 left, so he increased the amount of bread A he purchases and purchases the same amount of bread B as the previous day. In simple terms, Greg is business intelligent.

Business intelligence is the process of converting raw data into meaningful information in order to make correct, informed, reasonable and timely decisions.  Business intelligence simply helps people analyze the past in order to improve the future. A business intelligence tool is anything that helps to carry out all the processes of business intelligence. In the day to day operations of businesses, data is gathered from sales, actions, marketing, production, or whichever department, either written or captured using ERP or whatever means. They are gathered together as raw data, the business intelligence tool converts the raw data into meaningful information and helps the business increase revenue and reduce cost, as well as help the business remain stable.

It’s no surprise that the successful companies of this decade are the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work. These companies make decisions quickly, act efficiently, and directly touch their customers in positive ways, which takes me down to highlighting the benefits of business intelligence. Business intelligence helps you to ask and answer the hard questions about what your business should be and where it should go. Business intelligence gives you access to the data that leads insights into your business. Business intelligence helps you to ask quickly. It provides solutions to business problems that simply were not previously available.

Every individual, trying to make a decision in his or her life, needs all information in the aspect of life the person is perplexed about. In the same manner, every company needs information for business analysis and forecasting. Every business has to be able to predict its future and shape it in a way it would want to go, as it is very key for business growth, if not, the company stands a chance of staying stagnant. Every decision made without information is like a decision to walk barefooted in a dark room with nails scattered on the floor. Be business intelligent today and move your business to a higher level.

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