Business Intelligence

BI (Business Intelligence) is a set of processes, architectures, and technologies that convert raw data into meaningful information that drives profitable business actions. It is a suite of software and services to transform data into actionable intelligence and knowledge. BI has a direct impact on an organization’s strategic, tactical, and operational business decisions. BI supports fact-based decision-making using historical data rather than assumptions and gut feeling. BI tools perform data analysis and create reports, summaries, dashboards, maps, graphs, and charts to provide users with detailed intelligence about the nature of the business.

Advantages of Business Intelligence

Enhanced Productivity

A business intelligence system can improve productivity within teams. The system can gather and analyze data faster than team members, which can help you address challenges when they arise.

To Improve Visibility

BI also helps to improve the visibility of the processes and make it possible to identify any areas which need attention.

Customer Satisfaction

Using business intelligence systems can help improve customer satisfaction. Part of BI is gathering information about customer ratings and loyalty, and the systems can offer reports summarizing current consumer opinions. Using this information, you can implement measures to fix customer challenges and improve overall satisfaction.

Business Decision Guidance

BI systems can offer guidance on which decisions can create positive results. By analyzing data, business intelligence programs may offer more accurate predictions of how decisions can affect the organization within the market.

Accurate Reporting

Business intelligence can provide information to business leaders that they can use to create accurate reports. These reports can include information about performance insights for solving company challenges.

Disadvantages of Business Intelligence

Cost

Business intelligence can prove costly for small as well as for medium-sized enterprises. The use of such a system may be expensive for routine business transactions.

Complexity

Another drawback of BI is its complexity in the implementation of data warehousing. It can be so complex that it can make business techniques rigid to deal with.

Limited Use

Like all improved technologies, BI was first established keeping in consideration the buying competence of rich firms. Therefore, the BI system is yet not affordable for many small and medium-sized companies.

Time Consuming Implementation

It takes almost one and a half years for a data warehousing system to be completely implemented. Therefore, it is a time-consuming process.

How the Business Intelligence Systems are Implemented

Step-1: Assessment and Planning

Define the objectives and goals of the BI system. Identify key stakeholders and involve them in the planning process. Develop a project plan, budget, and timeline.

Step-2: Data Collection

Identify the data sources required for analysis, including databases, spreadsheets, external sources, and more. Implement data extraction processes to collect data from these sources. Ensure data quality by cleaning and validating the collected data.

Step-3: Data Integration

Combine and integrate data from various sources to create a unified dataset. Transform and standardize data to ensure consistency.

Step-4: Data Modeling

Design data models that define the structure and relationships within the data. Create data hierarchies, dimensions, and aggregations.

Step-5: Data Analytics

Implement data analytics tools and techniques, such as data mining, machine learning, and statistical analysis. Create data models and algorithms to extract insights from the data.

Step-6: Data Visualization and Reporting

Choose data visualization and reporting tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI). Create interactive dashboards, reports, and data visualizations. Design user-friendly interfaces for data exploration.

Step-7: User Training

Train end-users, business analysts, and data professionals on how to use the BI system.

Step-8: Governance and Security

Implement data governance policies to ensure data accuracy and consistency. Define user roles and permissions to control access to data. Set up data encryption and secure access controls.

Step-9: Deployment

Deploy the BI system to the intended user base. Monitor system performance and address any issues.