Business intelligence is a data-driven process that transforms raw and unstructured data from across the enterprise into structured data to gather meaningful insights. It is the process of analyzing and presenting data to understand how the business is performing and what needs to be done to improve the business.
Before we know how the Advanced BI tools help in Decision Making, here’s the brief of what they actually do:
Various tools and software are used to collect, process, analyze, and present data to derive insights. These tools play a crucial role in the decision making process of SMEs. Instead of relying on instinct and outdated data, organizations use real-time insights to understand the current and future market conditions. This allows the management to have more control over their decisions.
In this blog, we will learn how advanced BI tools can empower enterprises to make the right decisions for their business.
Business intelligence helps enterprises to collect and store data in a central database that can be accessed by all departments. This ensures that everyone gets the latest information and can collaborate with other departments to increase productivity and sales. The following are the functionalities of BI.
Business intelligence is used in various organizations to-
Big names in the global market like Netflix, Adobe, Amazon, Siemens, Cisco, Philips, etc., grabbed prominent places on the list of Transformation 20 for making the best business decisions of 2019. Though the companies have been working on bringing new changes over the years, the major results were seen in 2019.
For example, Netflix became the leading online live-streaming platform and the top provider of original content on OTT. Amazon’s Web Services helped reduce the cost of building and maintaining the IT infrastructure for many startups. AWS became a profitable venture in no time. These developments have been possible because the brands changed their business processes to data-driven models and invested heavily in business intelligence.
Without using the right software and technology, enterprises cannot expect to get the desired results. Adopting and investing in BI tools can change the way businesses look at data. There are many benefits of using Decision Making Platforms in business-
Business intelligence tools are of different types and serve various purposes in the enterprise.
It is a real-time interactive dashboard that presents data in an easy-to-understand graphical format. Power BI, Tableau Desktop, Qilk Sense Desktop Personal Edition, etc., are some examples.
There are open-source and web-based spreadsheets with much more features than MS Excel offers.
These tools are used to report, sort, filter, and process data based on queries. Some of the Best Business Intelligence Tools for Effective Reporting are Power BI, Sisense FineReport, Oracle Business Intelligence, IBM Cognos Analytics, etc.
Online Analytical Processing tools make it easy to analyze data from multiple sources and present it in multiple ways to include various business perspectives.
Helps create graphical reports for complex insights and makes it easy to understand and share the key details with other departments in the enterprise. A few popular data visualization tools are Tableau Public, DataWrangler, D3.js, Plotly, and many more.
Using BI tools on mobile devices so that employees are always armed with the latest reports no matter where they are working. Example: Power BI Pro, Zoho Reports, Amazon QuickSight, etc.
These tools help collect data from various sources to structure and store it in a single location known as the data warehouse.
Identifying patterns and hidden trends in the large data sets using AI and ML algorithms.
Using a framework of data analytics, reasoning, and machine learning techniques to make informed decisions.
Using a modeling language/ techniques to specify and develop software for the business.
BI tools that can be accessed via the cloud and used on the cloud platforms without downloading the software to the on-premises services. Power BI Pro, Zoho Reports, Tableau Online, etc., are a few cloud-based BI tools.
Using a set of processes to manage the performance of the business by carefully planning and aligning the goals. Example: MagicDraw, Adobe LifeCycle, Enterprise Architect, ProcessMaker, and many more.
There are many ways in which BI tools play a role in helping enterprises make the right business decisions. Whether it is in the sales department, managing resources, hiring eligible candidates, or training the existing ones, BI tools help enterprises have a better and deeper understanding of the intricacies in the business.
Reports are an inherent part of every business. From inventory to accounts to sales, each department generates reports to present the current business situation in different formats. Business Intelligence Consulting helps enterprises produce detailed reports that share valuable information about the company’s revenue, sales, inventory, past performance, and more.
Data visualization tools can be used by employees with minimum or no training. The aim of these tools is to present data in a simple and easy manner that can be understood by most people. Employees can add and delete features on the dashboard using the drag-drop option. This lets them see how different factors impact the overall performance of the business, that too without much effort.
Setting up benchmarks is not an easy task. It requires large-scale research to study the processes and systems used by the industry leaders and then create an action plan to implement the same in the organization. But BI tools have simplified the process of benchmarking.
A digital twin is a digital (3D) representation of a physical asset of the enterprise. When these are combined with the Insight Engine, a full list of details about the product is created. The digital twins are now replacing the traditional product management methods to combine data and machine learning. This is done to connect and align the people, processes, and things in the enterprise to bring them on the same level.
Performance goals are set on multiple levels. Employees have their targets, departments have larger goals, and the organization has much larger and complex goals that need to be achieved. BI tools help SMEs track the day-to-day progress of employees, departments, and the enterprise to monitor the overall performance. Aligning the individual goals with enterprise goals is essential for a business to succeed.
Based on the reports generated by the BI tools, enterprises can make quick decisions to correct mistakes before things spiral out of control.
Another crucial task of business intelligence consulting services is to increase awareness about the business processes and the markets. If enterprises do not even know about an opportunity, how can they take advantage of it to grab a higher market share? BI tools help management stay aware of the shifting trends in the market and open new doors to create opportunities and grab them with both hands. Knowing which ones to target and which ones to avoid is also essential.
As mentioned in the previous point, knowing which market trends to avoid and identifying patterns that have earlier resulted in losses is also necessary. BI tools assist the management with this as well. The reports generated by business intelligence software are detailed, meaningful, and accurate. These reports are based on historical and real-time data, allowing businesses to make the right decision based on facts rather than guesswork. While instincts should not be ignored, guesswork is vague and risky. One wrong guess could lead to losses in millions.
By automating recurring tasks, SMEs can reduce the product life cycle and minimize defects. Business intelligence can help enterprises streamline various operations and align them to reduce wastage. From sourcing raw materials to delivering the final product to the customer and improving user experience, BI tools can track and analyze every step taken by the business. Getting rid of duplication, minimizing and automating repetitive tasks, increasing the speed of production and delivery, etc., are possible when enterprises use the insights generated by BI tools.
Among the best business decisions of 2020, one decision we need to definitely mention is the use of limited resources. Due to the pandemic causing a severe shortage of many raw materials and money, it was an uphill task for enterprises to keep the production running. BI tools have helped SMEs pool their resources, find alternate methods and work with what’s available. Liquidity-based decisions have also been taken based on the reports generated by BI tools.
From improving individual employee productivity to making more sales and getting higher profits, all the short-term and long-term goals of an enterprise can be achieved by investing in business intelligence tools.
Hire business intelligence consulting services from the leading companies in the market to understand which BI tools are suitable for the enterprise. Revamping the business processes to become a data-driven organization requires expert assistance. Using BI is the best way to gain a competitive edge over other SMEs and be ready to tackle any foreseen and unforeseen developments in the market.
They have the experience and agility to understand what’s possible and deliver to our expectations.
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