What is Business Intelligence? Definition
Business Intelligence (BI) aims at making better business decisions
through the use of a broad category of Management Information Systems,
applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and
providing access to data. BI uses timely and accurate information to
make decisions.
Typical BI activities
Typically, BI activities include decision support, query and reporting,
online analytical processing, statistical analysis, forecasting, and
data mining. BI represents those systems that help companies understand
what makes the corporation successful, and to help predict the future
impact of current decisions. These systems play a key role in strategic
planning process of the corporation.
Business Analytics versus Business Intelligence
What is the difference between business analytics (BA) and business intelligence (BI)?
Both processes involve data as their main component. And both are aimed to improve "decision-making". However the decisions being supported are different:
- BI is used to run the current business smoothly on a strategic/tactical level, like perhaps by what % did our market share increase in market X? Or should we invest in country A or B. While BA is used to create ongoing improvements to certain operational processes of firms, like perhaps optimizing online suggestions to clients for cross selling purposes.
- BI has a strategic focus on making use of available data to take managerial decisions, whereas BA focuses on operational/tactical improvements typically automating them using predicitive analytics.
- BI focuses on the present (what should we do now). BA focuses on future improvements of some process.
- BI is typically used for things like reporting, KPI monitoring, scorecards, performance management. BA is typically used for statistical, quantitive, and predictive analytics.
Typical Business Intelligence Applications
Typical BI systems are: customer profiling, market basket analysis,
anti money laundering, anti fraud, customer contact analysis, market
segmentation, credit scoring, product profitability, inventory movement
as well as certain risk related applications.
Business Intelligence software
BI software provides better steering information to managers, enabling
them to make better business decisions, ultimately leading to increased
shareholder and stakeholder value creation. BI systems play a key role
in strategic planning process of the corporation.
Forum discussions about Business Intelligence. Below you can ask a question about this topic, share your experiences, report a new development, or explain something.
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Business Intelligence Tools for SMEs
For the last two years I have been working giving some advice on processes improvement to local companies from small to medium size and I have found that the level of business controls (reporting/dash...
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Creating Decision Making Dashboards
Companies must make common dashboards available, integrating all relevant information to support the decision-making process and performance valuation. This means that all managerial roles will see th...
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NEW Sense Making in Decision Making Support
Hi, I'm currently writing my master’s thesis. It's title is: "Sense Making in Decision Making Support".
According to Gartner, business intelligence is an umbrella tool. It is accessing anal...
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Setting up a BI Unit
What are the steps required to create a Business Intelligence section in my department to facilitate business planning, strategy formulation and decision making?
Do you have any tips or pitfalls ...
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Combining GIS and BI
Sometimes we can combine a GIS with BI to provide a better way to make a decision....
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Business and Strategic Intelligence
Is strategic intelligence the same concept as that of business intelligence? The only difference I picked up was that strategic intelligence is more military operation kind of thing. But is the concep...
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Self-servicing Business Intelligence
Bill Hostmann from Gartner Research in a SAS magazine expects that information will be increasingly self-servicing. Getting information to business users in a relevant, accurate, consistent and timely...
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The best, top-rated topics about Business Intelligence. Here you will find the most valuable ideas and practical suggestions.
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Business Intelligence History
Wikipedia says In 1989 Howard Dresner, a Research Fellow at Gartner Group popularized "BI" as an umbrella term to describe a set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fa...
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Decision-centric BI (DCBI)
I recently read a new term: "Decison-centric BI" in an article by Dan Vesset from IDC in SASCOM. DCBI is the move from information delivery (historic reporting) to a collaborative, hypothesizing, mode...
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Advanced insights about Business Intelligence. Here you will find professional advices by experts.
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Business Analytics Best Practices / Business Intelligence Best Practices Business Intelligence, Business Analytics, Evidence-based Decision Making, Big Data Babson-Professor Thomas H. Davenport in the Harvard BR of January 06 provides 10 best practices on BI:
1. Apply sophist...
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Competitive Intelligence Best Practices CI, BI, Business Analytics, Compettive Advantage According to Liam Fahey in the article “The Future Directions of Competitive Intelligence: Some Reflections” (Competitiv...
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Using BI for Competitive Advantage - Best Practices Business Intelligence, Competitive Advantage, Best Practices In a recent report from the Economist Intelligence Unit titled "Levelling the Playing Field - How Companies Use Data for...
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Common Business Intelligence Pitfalls Investing in BI, Avoiding Pitfalls, Getting Full Value out of Business Analytics In a recent white paper by QlikView titled "BI for the people", it is argued that following 10 common pitfalls might pre...
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Limitations of Real-time Business Intelligence Decision-making, Business Analytics, Decision Support - Cost - The costs of real-time BI are very high. A simple system could easily cost a company millions of dollars, but r...
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Generic Benefits of Real-time BI Decision-making, Business Analytics, Decision Support - Real-time BI dramatically reduces the latency of making decisions and reacting to events. There are generally four lat...
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What are the Main Categories of BI Tools? BI Types, BI Categories It is essential that any organization understands its own business processes and appreciates the fact that BI tools are ...
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Preparing for Implementation of BI systems Generic Steps to Consider, Checklist According to Tad Leahy in the article “The right BI tools for the job” (Business Finance, October 2002) seven steps have...
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3 Steps in Solving Problems with Data Credibility Improving Data Reliablility, IT, Business Intelligence The problem of data credibility
Data credibility problems have been existed for many years. Due to this credibility pro...
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Internet of Things and Marketing Marketing, Supply Chain Management, Internet Strategy Billions of physical devices around the world today are connected to the internet, all collecting and sharing data. This...
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Using BI for Competitive Advantage - Focus Areas IT Strategy, Competitive Advantage According to the report "Levelling the Playing Field - How Companies Use Data for Competitive Advantage" by the Economis...
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Relevance of BI to Strategy and Decision-making BI, Decision-making, Business Analytics A research study conducted by Business Week Research Services and Business Objects shows that more than half of the crit...
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Defining Real-time Business Intelligence Decision-making, Business Analytics Real-time Business Intelligence, in contrast to business intelligence, is defined as the use of, or the capacity to use,...
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Various sources of information regarding Business Intelligence. Here you will find powerpoints, videos, news, etc. to use in your own lectures and workshops.
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Performance Management with Business Intelligence Business Intelligence, Corporate Performance Management, Key Performance Indicators, ERP, Predictive Analysis Paper by Luminita Hurbean. In today’s highly competitive business, the quality and timeliness of business information fo...
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Implementation of a Business Intelligence Strategy. Steps Business Intelligence, BI Strategy, BI Process, BI Steps This presentation is about BI and the steps that need to be taken in order to be successful. The presentation includes t...
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BI Overview: the Concept and Main Trends Business Intelligence Presentation that provides an overview of Business Intelligence and describes the main trends in it. The presentation in...
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How DSS, AI and IT can aid the Transformation Process of Knowledge External Knowledge Sharing Paper by Saadat Alhashmi. Competitive organisations must be able to locate, capture, store, share and leverage not only ...
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Using Big Data for Competitive Advantage Customer Analysis, Data Management Presentation about unstructured consumer information, or Big Data. Big Data – if processed correctly - can give companie...
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KPIs and KPI Management Understanding KPIs, Introduction Introduction by expert Joe Panebianco gives a first understanding of what Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) are and the...
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Business Intelligence Diagram Business Intelligence Download and edit this 12manage PowerPoint graphic for limited personal, educational and business use.
Republishing in ...
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