Business Intelligence (BI) is the domain-specific insight developed through the analysis of a company’s operational data. A business can gain a clear competitive advantage through the ability to quickly discover and act on new trends and relationships in data that may reflect or project similar trends and relationships in the marketplace or business operations. No matter what its size, your business can benefit from BI.

During its day-to-day operations, your business collects large quantities of data such as orders, inventory, accounts payable, point-of-sale transactions or customer lists. In addition, you may acquire data, such as demographics and mailing lists, from outside sources. Your ability to consolidate and analyze this data can lead to improved tactical and strategic business decisions and a competitive advantage.

With BI systems, businesses have the capability to consolidate multiple data sources, giving decision makers the ability to identify and evaluate relevant information. BI is the discipline of gathering, managing, and analyzing large quantities of data to gain insights that can drive strategic business decisions.

BI can lead to:

• Customer analyses – understanding a customer set, recruiting new customers, and retaining existing customers.
• Sales analyses – understanding the performance of products or services, inter-product sales synergies, customer buying patterns, or recognizing fraudulent use of a product or service.
• Business analyses – understanding the internal business performance of one’s own company.