Business Intelligence
What is Business Intelligence?? Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to transform data into actionable insights that inform an organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions. BI tools access and analyze data sets and present analytical findings in reports, summaries, dashboards, graphs, charts and maps to provide users with detailed intelligence about the state of the business.
Stages of Business Intelligence Information Gathering During the information gathering stage, data is either prepared from existing sources (existing contact data, ERP data, financial database) or collected externally through the use of in-person or online surveys, polls, questionnaires or forms. Feedback data can be gathered from customers, staff or advisors, and consideration given to anonymity and privacy in order to provide the most honest and reflective data possible. Analysis This is one of the key areas of turning raw data into information. BI makes it easier for the user to explore the data and turn it into useful information. There are three common types of analysis:
• Spreadsheet Analysis - probably the oldest form of analysis where data from a spreadsheet application is translated into tables, pivot tables and graphs in order to identify specific trends and inconsistencies. • Software that allows users to develop their own specific data queries where data has been collected it may be automatically analysed by software or on importation - for example results from a SurveyMonkey public survey. • Visualisation Tools – graphs and charts that take raw data and create visualisations that users can read and understand - legacy programs like Crystal Reports and new technologies like Power BI are good examples of visualisation tools.
Reporting Once data has been analysed it needs to be reported on. Reporting is the act of taking the analysed data and presenting it in a way that makes a human connection, or some sort of focus where advantages are to be gained through actions. Depending on the tools involved, reporting can happen as an extension of the analysis phase, but for BI to be effective it must be reported on after being filtered or defined during the analysis stage before being presented as a report. Reports may be presented as tables of data on screen or paper, but can also be shown as pivot tables, graphs, or as an executive summary in a corporate report.
Monitoring & Prediction Monitoring allows the user to monitor data and information in real-time. Monitoring provides snapshots between reporting periods or when making decisions. The three main types of monitoring are: • Dashboard – A central location where all useful and actionable metrics and data are contained. They are usually represented graphically to make it easier for users to read. • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – KPIs measure the performance of selected key drivers from the organisation. • Business Performance Management – Also known as a Balanced Scorecard is a system that is designed to ensure that performance goals for your organisation or projects are being met and results are being delivered.
Prediction helps management predict what will happen based on the data currently available and other trends. Prediction can be an incredibly complex form of BI, and uses a combination of insights gathered during the analysis and monitor/predict stages in order to make decisions on future outcomes, or on what data to focus on for the next Information Gathering stage.
Applications • Human Resources: HR can tremendously benefit from the implementation of Business Intelligence utilizing employee productivity analysis, compensation and payroll tracking, and insights into employee satisfaction. • Finance: Business Intelligence can help finance departments by providing invaluable and in-depth insights into financial data. The application of BI can also help to track quarterly and annual budgets, identify potential problem areas before they cause any negative impacts, and improve the overall organizational business health and financial stability.
• Sales: Business Intelligence can assist your company’s sales force by providing visualizations of the sales cycle, in-depth conversion rates analytics, as well as total revenue analysis. BI can help your sales team to identify what’s working as well as points of failure which can result in dramatically improved sales performance. • Marketing: BI provides the marketing department with a convenient way to view all current and past campaigns, the performance and trends of those campaigns, a breakdown of the cost per lead and the return on investment, site traffic analytics, as well as a multitude of other actionable pieces of information.
If you are interested to know more about Business Intelligence, join the Business Intelligence Course by Henry HarvinÂŽ.