While a broad term, Business Intelligence (BI) has a wide scope of significance involving data, processes, performance, and measurements. BI is the means and infrastructure used to aggregate, maintain, and analyze data to develop business strategies and operational efficiencies.
Leaders utilize BI to improve decision-making and target activities.
BI answers monetization questions, such as:
- What happened?
- Where and when did it happen?
- How often?
- What is the trend?
- What should we do based on what happened?
- What potential optimization can be made?
- What action can we take to boost performance?
There are a range of data tools that fall under BI including mining, analytics, visualization, benchmarking, reporting, warehousing, and technology-driven planning and processes.
In all instances, data must be prepared before being applied to a tool effectively.
Data Readiness
- Extracting and Provisioning
- Compiling and Cleansing
- Standardizing and Formatting
- Parsing and Structuring
- Eliminating Errors or Anomalies
- Grouping and Clustering
- Storing and Securing
As part of Business Intelligence, the right queries need to be made so that the answers can be generated from the dataset.
The aim is both analytical and explorative. BI provides insights and helps to tell the story of the consumer through their behaviors, buying, and actions. These efforts will also uncover trends and forecast future performance.
External data sources are also valuable for gaining understanding of your audience, which allows for a transformative approach to interaction and engagement initiatives.
BI makes us smarter by being able to do the following:
- Pinpoint trends
- Gain information on the market and competitors
- Detect problems and weaknesses
- Enhance campaign outcomes
- Observe performance pathways
- Reveal opportunities to increase profits
- Unveil customer behaviors
- Visually track KPIs
- Create a roadmap to optimize sales
- Improve awareness and decision-making
Further advances that can be achieved include modernizing data use and storage, employing real-time analytics, and making business development more agile, dynamic, and persuasive.
Business Intelligence takes time to adopt and execute, yet it offers tremendous value and capabilities. Leaders need BI to more rapidly navigate their digital landscape, expertly expand their business terrain, and build impactful campaigns while minimizing risks and uncertainties.
Give yourself a straightforward starting point with 4 primary BI objectives: analysis, monitoring, predicting, and reporting.
Assess your CRM, Databases, ERP, and other data sources to design the right BI architecture for your organization.
Steps and Protocols
- Define the company’s BI objectives, KPIs, and requirements
- Decide on the right tools
- Establish a BI team
- Have a data strategy that is clear, documented, and time-bound
- Prepare an oversight checklist
- Set up essential data integrations
- Put in place the data architecture, dimensional tables, and warehouse configuration
- Determine the data interface, tactics, and technologies that will be used to produce BI results and findings
- Institute the right servers, services, and database ETLs (extract-transform-load)
- Form the OLAP (online analytical processing)
- Prioritize data-driven initiatives and track ROI
Prevent pitfalls by ensuring interdependencies are designated, strategies are aligned, and goals are executable.
Incorporate BI into your overall digital framework, which includes adoption, execution, optimization, and transformation.
There needs to be a collective accord to use BI to drive value for both customers and the business. All team members must be dedicated to data quality, consistency, and continual expansion.
Set your vision for Business Intelligence and make it a vital component to the company’s mission.