What is the Power of Business Intelligence?

By Siddarth Shetty

Data is only as good as conclusions it helps you derive, and the actions that follows. How long does it take you to gather data? Are you spending more time creating a report, than analyzing it? If you’re spending more time creating a report than using it … then you’re in need of Business Intelligence.

Simply put, business intelligence is taking raw data and putting it in a format that actually makes sense to you and can provide you with insight – to take action: It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to take action. Taking no action is also a decision. If everything is okay and you decide not to do anything, that itself goes a long way because you actually made a conscious decision.

Firstly, the most powerful aspect of all is your data, untouched without manipulation. You can put this data in an operational, tactical or strategic report to allow you to make decisions that will drive your business. This will enable you to analyze your true performance, to identify key opportunities and improve internal processes.

Internal processes are important:
Usually when we talk about reporting, people ignore the fact that processes have a big hand in the kind of data that’s going to result through your regular operations. Data is only driven by what you do and how you do it. Let’s take your data to look at your processes and improve them.

Then we’ll go back to the reports to see the results of those improvements and make more changes and fine tweak your processes. That’s business intelligence – taking data and using that data to get better results and take action. The power of business intelligence is to have it continuously at your fingertips – and not just look at it once a year.

How aware are you of what’s going on in your departments and with your partners, in terms of compliance and performance?

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