Business intelligence (BI) is knowing everything about one particular company, preferably yours. Everything from the history to its projected future goes under the business intelligence tech banner.
In short, BI revolves around the collection and analysis of data, which is then used to get a clearer picture of where the enterprise is and where it needs to go. This helps everything get on a smoother track.
However, there’s a lot more to BI than just being good at analyzing information. For one, there’s a lot of data to sift through and organize, more so than maybe initially expected. Then, once everything is understood, problems can crop up that you may not have foreseen.
The good news is that BI has been getting better in recent years. New technologies are coming forward that can help us control the flood of information and even aid us in handling what couldn’t have been predicted. Here are just a few ways BI can be managed better.
Data Warehouses
A data warehouse is a system used for data analysis or in conjunction with reporting software. It can organize, store and understand a massive amount of data from multiple sources for you. The warehouse takes information from various sources and puts it all into one central repository, maintaining a copy separate from the source material to ensure nothing gets lost.
With everything in a single place, you only need a search query to find any information you’re looking for. This is the first step to organizing the data into easily viewable and understood methods, from spreadsheets to graphs.
A data warehouse acts as a place to store a lot of information about a company safely. It combines info from different sources and organizes it so it can be better understood.
The Cloud
Simply referring to the cloud as part of BI technology isn’t very specific, but that’s because it can generally help in all sorts of different sectors. The main takeaways any company should be aware of if they’re implementing a cloud into their BI are services and strategies.
Having cloud services means you can access data for the BI from anywhere at any time. Meanwhile, it’s best to have multiple cloud services so you can be as flexible as possible. The cost is more than just having a single service, but many companies find the advantage to be worth it.
Dashboards
A dashboard is a window or page that shows you all the information about the company you could possibly need.
It’s simple to use and understand, giving you as much data as possible in charts and graphs. By integrating with the data warehouse, the dashboard can be preconfigured to consolidate all sources so things are easier to access.
Ad Hoc Reporting and Solutions
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase that means “for this.” In the context of BI, it refers to a solution that can only help with a single problem.
While we live in a world where multitasking is key to the fast-paced environment, being fast doesn’t always mean being efficient. Sometimes, the best and only solution is one that will work for nothing else. With BI, that solution can be used easily.
Data Governance
Of course, none of this can function without data. Data is gathered from almost every device that can connect to the internet, effectively working as a crowdsourcing tool.
This allows the company to see the information it wouldn’t have considered before and gain new ideas. Governance also means keeping the wrong kind of data out so you only have accurate, relevant information.
Better Business Intelligence
Using business intelligence tools means looking at information about the company and making a successful plan for moving forward.
However, just knowing the basics of BI isn’t enough to ensure success. Every company, big or small, needs some sort of system in place. Having tools like dashboards and data warehouses can only make the job of BI more efficient.
