Any activity you carry out as part of a business, large or small, generates certain results that you should pay attention to. Certain data will always emerge from every process: from the production area to the marketing and sales phase. Have you paid attention to them? This is your business giving you signals about what you need to continue growing.
Many people overlook this type of information and base their decision-making process on their own experience or intuition… But today, it’s essential to make sound decisions, otherwise your competitors will be able to overtake you. This is why the business intelligence methodology was developed .
What is business intelligence ? Broadly speaking, business intelligence is the extraction of data related to a company’s core processes , then transforming it into tangible information and extracting results that lead to decision-making.
This is why business intelligence is an essential process in project management today. Are you looking to start or expand your business? You’d better consider this topic.
What is business intelligence or BI used for?
You’ll agree that business intelligence is a concept that promises to transform the way many internal processes are understood in the business world… But what is BI used for? What are its practical capabilities?
We answer those questions below:
- Extract tangible insights from data: Every time something happens within your business, data is generated that you need to know how to interpret. How have your sales been? Have you managed to generate leads ? How has your latest marketing strategy performed? How is your website’s conversion rate performing?
- These types of questions will help you when starting the business intelligence process . That’s why it’s important to develop a critical mindset to distinguish between the data you need and the data you should ignore. You can use software tools to create databases that allow for more organized management. Which ones? Don’t worry… We’ll tell you more about that later.
- Extracting results or insights from information: Having a comprehensive database is useless if you don’t leverage it. Your business intelligence can only continue when you have the ability to recognize what this data means. Is it necessary to redirect the marketing strategy? Should the sales funnel be restructured ? Does the current marketing strategy deserve continuity?
- These are the types of questions that will allow you to go a step further, and their answers will provide you with the decisions you need to make. Just like in the data extraction phase, you also need to keep a record of the insights you gain… After all, that will be the starting point when we tackle a new business intelligence process .
Origin of business intelligence
To trace the origins of business intelligence, we must go back to 1865, when the “Encyclopedia of Business and Commercial Anecdotes” was published in the United States… This document was the first time the term was referred to, albeit from a somewhat vague perspective.
Then, in the 20th century, with the natural advancement of technology, business intelligence became more established . From the moment computer tools were put to use in data collection.
Some milestones can be noted, such as the development of data management-focused applications like SAP around the 1970s…
As the 1990s and 2000s arrived, machines capable of running BI programs evolved exponentially. Although they weren’t entirely bug-free! Initially, these software packages were somewhat basic, so they didn’t represent the real problems that needed to be fixed.
However, this was soon corrected, and computers began to offer more accurate results thanks to the range of specialized tools available today. Undoubtedly, the growth of this methodology will continue in line with technological development. And it still has a lot of potential to demonstrate!
Benefits of BI for businesses
Without a doubt, if there’s one sector that benefits from business intelligence, it’s the business sector… After all, it’s a concept that empowers decision-making. That’s why large corporations don’t undertake any project without first going through the business intelligence phase .
For this reason, below we explain some of the benefits of BI for businesses:
- Project management: When you implement a well-structured business intelligence process , you’ll have everything you need to keep everything under control. A good project manager will leverage the knowledge gained through BI to keep everything under control. No planning should be independent of what business intelligence has to offer.
- Budget generation: If there’s one department in your company that needs to be managed with extreme care, it’s business intelligence . Every time you invest 1 euro in any project, you should have a reason for doing so, as well as a basis that shows you’re making the right decision. Sound familiar? Exactly… Business intelligence will give you that .
- Resource allocation: This is an area closely related to the previous one. If you want your business’s resources to be used efficiently and profitably, it’s best to ensure that this allocation corresponds to business intelligence . Some questions that can give you insight into this matter include: What process do I need to strengthen? Which businesses aren’t delivering results?
Negative points of BI for companies
From a practical perspective, BI offers only benefits for businesses… as long as it’s applied properly. However, you should keep the following in mind:
- It warrants a large investment in technology renewal.
- It may be a bit difficult for your employees to adapt to the change in how information is managed.
- The number of people trained to manage business intelligence is scarce in the market.
Types of business intelligence tools and solutions
- Data exploration: These tools enable the beginning of the business intelligence process . Without them, it’s impossible to gather the information you’ll need. They use validated sources of new data, although they can also leverage statistical resources to project other data predictively.
- Data management: These are programs that allow you to filter the data that will be useful to you. They also allow you to analyze this data to transform it into tangible information.
- Reporting : The information resulting from business intelligence can be a bit difficult to interpret. Reporting toolsprovide a solution by adapting all the knowledge gained into a much more user-friendly language based on more intuitive graphics and information.
Best business intelligence tools on the market
There are countless business intelligence tools on the market . Below we list the most notable ones. Take advantage of them!
- Microsoft Dynamics: This software , developed by one of the industry’s giants, allows you to manage data related to customer relationships. It allows you to comprehensively control every process involved in a sales service.
- IBM Cognos Analytics: This is the portal developed by IBM that allows you to extract, monitor, and generate reports based on metrics applied to a process. It allows you to understand your company’s needs at all times.
- SAP Business Intelligence: Perhaps the most popular option on the market. With this suite, you can analyze a large amount of information from a database. You can also generate reports and track any decisions you make.
Examples of success in brands that use business intelligence
By now, you know everything there is to know about business intelligence . Now, all that’s left is to discuss some business intelligence examples so you can finally decide to incorporate this methodology into all your business processes:
- HelloFresh: This is a meal kit company that applied BI to evaluate the performance of its digital marketing… Business intelligence revealed the need to focus its marketing strategies on three types of buyer personas . As a result, they were able to increase the conversion rate across their various web platforms.
- Coca-Cola Bottling Company: This Coca-Cola affiliate responsible for the bottling process in the United States experienced a 180° turnaround thanks to BI. They realized their processes were inefficient and introduced automated mechanisms for recording information… They optimized their monthly sales and shipping reports.