What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence is a tool that many business owners wish to utilize but do not know where to start. Some may not even know what Business Intelligence is. So let’s start there! What is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence organizes and analyzes data so it will improve the overall quality of your business. How will it improve the quality?
By finding the small flaws that you may not even know are there and filling up those holes. These holes may be found in your financial department, marketing department or even in Human Resources.
When you bring business intelligence into your company, you will be able to have an overview of your organized data so you can set new goals and make new plans to grow more than ever.
For example, you may notice that you get more orders or business closer to the end of the year. This could be a result of a year end deal that you hold every year. So you can create new marketing plans and reach new goals that you have never achieved before. You may create a new sale during the summer to reach similar numbers that you reach in December.
This is effective decision making using data that you can access after Business Intelligence is integrated into your company.
How Can Business Intelligence Help My Business?
How can business intelligence help? Here are some examples of how Business Intelligence can help your business:
Track your budget and simply show if you are on the right track.
See what marketing efforts are bringing in the most revenue.
Analyze employee efficiency and see where you can help your staff improve.
Find out what product is your best seller and why.
Track employee turnover and make plans on how to improve.
How Does Business Intelligence Work?
How does business intelligence work? What is the process? There are many steps to Business Intelligence but to simplify them into 4 steps, it would look similar to this:
Extracting your data
Transform your data into functional data
Load your data into a database or data warehouse
Create dashboards or reports of your data to provide visualization for you and your business.
Extracting the Data
Many people do not realize that Business Intelligence is more than just analyzing data in reports. There is a lot of work going into preparing the data to be sorted and organized into a database.
With the first main step being extracting data, you must access the APIs of any software your business may be using. Whether it be in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Program or in an EHR (Electronic Health Records) Program, you will need to gain access to pull the data from them. Hence the word “Extracting”.
When you are able to pull the data, you can now manipulate the way the data is sorted so it will meet your needs.
Transform the Data
When you transform data, it is not changing the data itself but how it is presented or stored. So this way you can allow certain data to be shown to different people.
For example, if you have data that a manager needs to see but a floor member does not need to see, you can create these allowances during this period. Specific data will be shown to specific people to ensure safe and secure data.
Store or Load the Data
After you transform the data, you must have a place to store it. That is where you can build a database or a data warehouse.
What is the difference between a database and a data warehouse? The difference is in the structure of the programs.
A data warehouse is structured in a way that it is personalized and tailored to meet the needs of your organization. A database is built to store large amounts of data and may not be as organized. Both are good forms of storage, it just matters if you will want your data to be tailored to meet your needs.
Data Reporting Software
The first three steps take up most of your time and effort. The final step is to take your data and input it into a report. There are many different Business Intelligence reporting softwares.
So which is the best one? This is a trick question because there is not one that is better than the other.
Every business intelligence tool is great and it all comes down to preference. The only suggestion is to stick to one reporting software per company. If one department signs up for Tableau and another department signs up for Power BI, there will be a disconnect between these departments and their data. When you have one reporting software for your company, it will allow more unity and understanding. Everyone will be able to read the reports you send out and move forward with the plans you set in place.
Business Intelligence does not need to be complicated. Here is the simple answer to what Business Intelligence is:
Business Intelligence is the organization and analysis of data in order to improve an organization or company.
Whether you are currently using Business Intelligence software or are just starting out, you cannot go wrong with talking to professionals about the process.
Many people do not know how to fully utilize what is given to them. Our professionals at Xantie are able to help you use Business Intelligence to its fullest potential. Just reach out to us at Inquires@xantie.com to find out more.