Business Intelligence 101
We seldom hear the words “Business Intelligence” (BI) in the Philippine market, particularly in the corporate setting. Top executives of different companies commonly ask these questions: “Can I get the right information now to make good business decision?”, “Do I have the ability to create a snapshot of cross-departmental business information?”, “Do I have the complete reports I need?”, or “Do I have an accurate sales forecast and cost analysis?” These are just some of the questions that can be answered by BI.
Now, what is BI? BI refers to the technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of business information to support better business decision making. While the volume of data and the number of employees in companies substantially increase, the need to automate data consolidation from various sources into a single view is seen as an important method of business understanding. Many companies realize that the lack of resources to efficiently analyze data limit the basis of their decisions on intuitions and personal experiences. In effect, this may cause companies millions on investment falling short of well-based and competent business information to achieve their desired objectives.
The ultimate goal of BI is to provide companies with insight and visibility into business operations and allow individuals to have effective decisions and improved performance. Decision making in companies is present at every level of the organizations. Whether the condition requires a quick resolution or a long term plan, the outcome will be part of the business process affecting the entire company. Typically, the practice in decision making process starts with the analysis of the situation. Many questions are asked and the people involved brainstorm on the best strategy or action plan to be implemented. This will then be supported by facts from useful patterns of information relating to the action plan. Considering the additional information gathered, a follow up thought is included until the final execution happens. The consequence will then be measured to test if the assumptions made meet the requirements. The tendency is to react after the activity had been accomplished. Succeeding plans will be based on the results.
With the use of BI, measurements are based on pre-calculated and reliable information founded on relevant data and well-defined business processes. Technology tools, application systems and best practices are also integral components that complete BI. These are the elements that will be used to transform passive and disparate data into meaningful information to provide business insight.
BI elevates individuals’ ability to make good business decisions at a higher level. It maximizes the value of existing and unused data within the organizations to support the decision makers’ responsiveness in improving their business. As the business develops and the demand for information increases, more data will be accessed and needed to be transformed into useful information. BI helps companies utilize and analyze these data to come up with intelligent decisions on demand.
By: J.M. Agosto
May 17, 2008
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