Making Data-Driven Decisions are critical for business growth. Data is the lifeblood of any company. If you don’t have data, how can you make intelligent decisions? But what makes up a business intelligence system, and why do companies need it? In this guide, I’ll answer these questions and more: what is business intelligence (BI), where does it come from, and why does your company need it? Plus, learn how to integrate BI into your workflow for better decision-making.
What Is Business Intelligence?
Business Intelligence (BI) is a broad term that encompasses several different types of software, including reporting, analytics, and data mining. BI software is used to analyse data and make better decisions. It can gather, manage, and analyse data from various sources.
Where Does Business Intelligence Come From?
Business intelligence comes from a variety of sources, including:
- Data warehouse. A data warehouse is an organised collection of information to support decision-making and analysis. The data stored in this repository can be accessed via queries, reports or other tools. Data warehouses are often built on relational databases like Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. Still, they may utilise NoSQL technologies like MongoDB or Hadoop for big data analysis tasks such as machine learning and predictive analytics (see below).
- Machine learning algorithms. Machine learning refers to any computer program that learns from experience rather than being explicitly programmed by humans; for example, machine learning algorithms could be trained on historical sales figures so they could predict future trends based on past performance data rather than human intervention every time there’s new information available about how customers behave when making purchases online versus offline (or vice versa).
Why Does Your Company Need It?
Business intelligence (BI) is a way for businesses to analyse and make sense of their data. It helps them make better decisions, improve efficiency, increase profitability and become more competitive.
BI tools allow you to collect data from multiple sources and organise it into tables and charts so you can conclude your business based on this information. This will enable you to answer questions like:
- How much money did we make last quarter?
- Are our sales increasing or decreasing over time?
- What factors influence customer satisfaction ratings?
How Do I Know if I’m Collecting the Right Data?
Data is the fuel that powers BI. Without it, you cannot know whether your business is on track or if there are opportunities for improvement and growth.
But how do you know which data to collect? And how do you manage it? That’s where this guide comes in! We’ll cover how to choose suitable data sources, why those sources matter so much in the first place (hint: they’re not just numbers), and what happens after they’ve been collected.
How Do I Hire The Right Data Analyst?
As you begin to consider hiring a data analyst, it’s important to remember that the person you choose will have a direct impact on your company’s success. A bad hire can cause problems in many areas of your business: from productivity and morale to revenue and profitability.
Therefore you must know exactly what qualities make up a good data analyst before deciding what kind of person would be best suited for this role within your organisation. Here are some essential qualities that all great analysts possess:
- An ability to understand complex concepts quickly (and explain them clearly)
- A passion for problem-solving through numbers
- A willingness to learn new things constantly
Integrating Business Intelligence Into Your Workflow
Now that you’ve learned about the different BI tools and how they can help your company, it’s time to take action. First, of course, it would help if you first implemented a BI tool into your workflow.
You’ll want to start by ensuring that your data is clean and accurate before integrating it into a BI tool. If there are problems with accuracy or completeness, then this will only worsen once you begin analysing the data through an automated system like this!
Once everything looks good on paper (so to speak), it’s time for integration: connecting all those systems so they can talk seamlessly with one another without any errors along the way. This might sound simple enough, but depending on how many different methods exist within an organisation and their complexity levels, this step could become highly complex very quickly if done improperly or without proper planning beforehand too…
Bringing It Together For Better Decisions
You need access to the correct data and information to make better decisions. It would help if you also had a way of analysing that data and making sense of it so that you can see trends and patterns in what’s happening within your business. This is where business intelligence comes in: it’s a way for companies like yours (or even individuals) to collect information from multiple sources, organise it into practical formats like dashboards or reports, and then use those tools as part of an ongoing process for decision-making at every level within an organisation.
Business intelligence is essential to making data-driven decisions.
Business intelligence is an invaluable tool for making informed, data-driven decisions. By analysing large amounts of structured and unstructured data, businesses can identify patterns and trends in their operations to make better-informed choices. Business intelligence also provides an objective view and helps remove bias or personal opinion from the decision-making process. Through accurate reporting and reliable data insights, businesses can make more efficient decisions to help them achieve their organisational goals. By leveraging business intelligence, organisations can benefit from increased efficiency and improved performance.
Bottom Line
Business intelligence is an essential tool for any business that wants to succeed. However, it cannot be easy to get started. Still, this guide has provided you with everything you need to know to get started, from hiring the right data analyst to integrating business intelligence into your workflow so that you can confidently make better decisions! If you have any questions or want help getting started, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Who am I?
I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth.
I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 30 years.
Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, and ensure business continuity irrespective of the business climate.
Hire Dotun Adeoye to Speak Virtually or In – Person at your company’s event to cover this or other topics. You can also get in touch via +44 203 097 1718 or dotun at dotunadeoye.com.