[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today, organizations have sought to generate value by investing in two key aspects: customers and data. That’s why it’s important to have tools that can offer greater control and understanding of the huge amount of information companies have access to at all times. In this sense, one of the best solutions is to adopt a Business Intelligence (BI) strategy.
However, many companies have been slow to do so – mainly due to lack of knowledge about the process, adoption and benefits of using this technological method. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 4 Business Intelligence advantages you need to know about. Check it out!
First, what is Business Intelligence and how important is it?
The term Business Intelligence refers to technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of business information. The goal of BI is to support better business decision making. Essentially, the applications used in this process are data-driven decision support systems.
Business intelligence applications provide historical, current, and predictive views of business operations. Most of the time this information is obtained using data that has been gathered in a Data Warehouse or Data Mart and occasionally from operational data.
You can use BI solutions to analyze sales, production, finance, and many other business data sources for a variety of purposes, like budget planning and business performance management. Often, information is gathered and compared with other companies in the same industry, a practice known as benchmarking.
What are the advantages of using Business Intelligence in your company?
1. Get valuable insights into your business
Business intelligence software constantly collects and analyzes data to provide useful insights for your business. Users can report on a variety of data sets, such as expenses, operational processes, personnel, and customer service.
There are several types of information you can analyze using BI tools. All platforms offer preformatted reporting capabilities that collect, for example, data for evaluating KPIs common to many types of businesses.
Businesses can also generate custom reports by applying the excellent visual BI capabilities to unique, organization-specific datasets. If none of these solutions give you what you need, there is still an ad hoc option. It is a document tailored to your needs and usually focuses on a very specific KPI that cannot be segmented by other document types.
Another unique benefit of Business Intelligence reporting is the relevance of information. As data is collected from business operations, companies can be confident the results are meaningful and appropriate.
Plus, you don’t have to be a data scientist to use BI tools – the visualizations generated by these tools are easy to understand and explain.
2. Visualize important information easily and intuitively
Conventional operational reporting is often difficult to interpret, which reduces an organization’s ability to recognize problems and act on established metrics.
One of the key benefits of BI software is it offers excellent data visualization capabilities, allowing users to read reports intuitively as they are easy to understand and simple to interpret.
Charts, videos, animations and infographics are more engaging ways to convey information than countless spreadsheets. This is partly because the human brain is programmed to process cognitive information much more slowly than visual information.
3. Identify trends
BI analysis tools are uniquely suited for powerful data mining. This process consists of finding patterns in a large data chain to identify trends and gain insights.
Some BI platforms analyze and process large amounts of data, just like Big Data applications. In addition, they can be integrated with Data Warehousing solutions, internal databases (eg SQL servers), as well as structured and unstructured data. This allows easy access to valuable information and improved decision-making processes that enable competitive advantage.
Because BI software is able to instantly analyze incoming data, it helps companies take advantage of fleeting opportunities that might be missed without the support of such tools.
4. Perform benchmarking
Fast thinking and effective decision making is important to achieving success in a business venture. Often, a company’s managers do not have the time or resources to conduct a large-scale market research project and industry-specific development or product launch.
That’s why benchmarking is one of the key features users look for in a BI platform. Using Business Intelligence software is like having a research project constantly underway, compiling information for innovative decision making.
Benchmarking is a valuable data analysis tool that companies use to gauge their productivity, revenue and overall success against their competitors. With a BI application this process becomes much easier as managers have instant access to reports that are easily understood.
Benchmarking reports provide accurate and timely data that enables companies to evaluate their performance against KPIs or individual trends over time. With predictive analytics capabilities, users can use this data and proactively implement it, outstripping their competitors rather than following them.
Now you know 4 important advantages of using a BI solution. If you enjoyed this content then you will also like to know how Big Data for businesses can leverage business![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ultimate_icons][/ultimate_icons][/vc_column][/vc_row]
