BAASS Insights Technology Blog

The big question is: What is the importance of business intelligence? Before diving into this, it’s important to understand the topic in itself. Business intelligence is the transformation of raw data into meaningful information for your business; the term encompasses the processes and methods of analyzing, displaying, and reporting from your business operations for the goal of performance optimization. Through business intelligence, organizations can have an all-around view of their business, allowing for better decisions to be made.

The new buzzword in business intelligence is collaborative analytics. This is the method by which many people, rather than one single person in a company, can review, analyze, and compare data from business operations. Companies which use collaborative analytics follow the old adage “two heads are better than one” but extend the concept to many people; allowing many minds to examine business data to find solutions.

Any time you launch a new system, there’s a learning curve. It can be challenging to get employees excited and enthusiastic about a new software system, no matter how wonderful it is. Many companies spend considerable time and effort choosing a new business intelligence system only to wonder why they’re not getting the most from it later on.

When you’re starting a business intelligence project, certain departments within your company may seem essential to the project’s success. Some departments immediately come to mind as key players in the creation and execution of the project’s deliverables. But the importance of cross-organizational collaboration cannot be underestimated.

From HRIS to CRM to ERP, there are countless acronyms that make up the unique alphabet of business technology. Every business owner should be familiar with these acronyms that represent advanced software that is integral to running an efficient business. That said, there is one abbreviation that acts as the umbrella for all this software, and that’s BI.

Cloud-based business intelligence has reached the point where it’s no longer a question of if you will join the cloud, but when. According to Forbes, 78% of business owners plan to switch to the cloud in the next year for their business intelligence data needs. That same number, 78%, plan to increase their use of cloud computing for BI data storage. Clearly, the cloud isn’t just a great idea - for many businesses, it’s as integral to how they run their operations as a telephone and internet connection.

Business Intelligence is a valuable tool for your entire organization. In the past, it has been primarily utilized by IT or data scientists, however, more and more CFO’s are looking at BI to gain helpful information and insight into their organizations.  The CFO possesses unique skills and expertise to analyze this information and leverage it to benefit them.

Companies implementing a business intelligence strategy and system often anticipate the many benefits that shared data brings throughout the organization. Shared data, however, must be married to strong governance for the greatest success with BI systems.