[Infographic] What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

Business Intelligence (BI) helps businesses gain deeper insights into their operations and has become fundamental in decision making and planning. 81% of businesses agree that data should be at the heart of all decision-making, yet, only 26% of companies say they have achieved a data-driven culture. 

Interestingly, those businesses that invest in data-driven strategies drive five to eight times as much ROI as those businesses that don’t. 

Using BI to power decision-making is vital - it’s no longer simply a nice to have. In order to compete and succeed in the modern digital world, businesses need to have a grasp of what business intelligence is, what is most relevant and importantly, how to leverage their data to highlight trends and aid decision making. 

For some, this may seem like an arduous task. Not every business is “tech-savvy” or has the knowledge in-house to power a data-driven strategy. Therefore we have put together a simple, but highly informative infographic, giving you an overview of exactly what business intelligence is and breaking down how it works into 4 easy stages:

Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process that leverages information from software to transform and deliver the data into actionable insights. These insights are used to inform and guide a company’s strategic business decisions.

BI doesn’t just refer to the process of collecting and analysing data, but also the tools that make it possible for organisations to communicate these insights to the wider company and stakeholders. Yes, while the process of data collection might act as the foundation for BI, it is the modern technology available today that allows businesses to automate, organise and communicate valuable insights in an easily digestible way. 

Microsoft has outlined the 4 key stages in transforming raw data into coherent pieces of useful information:

1. Collect and transform data from multiple sources 
2. Uncover trends and inconsistencies 
3. Use data visualisation to present findings 
4. Take action on insights in real-time

It goes without saying that investing time and resources into being data-driven could be incredibly beneficial to organisations from across all industries. BI is now automated, intuitive, integrated, and user-friendly. It enables individuals company-wide to make better-informed decisions that provide a more optimised output and competitive advantage. 

Aside from this, by creating a data-driven culture organisations can increase efficiency, enhance decision making and reporting, eradicate data silos, and recognise trends to improve customer experience, alerting any potential issues early on.

If you'd like to read more about business intelligence you can check out our full post here.

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