Introduction 

You see structured and well-organized information when you think about your company’s data. For the most part, you think about your accounting transactions, financial accounts, inventory data, and statistics gathered from your social media platforms.

Unfortunately, 90% of the data is still unstructured. By utilizing and organizing this data, your business may be sitting on a gold mine to gain that much-desired competitive edge.

One of the primary reasons for this data’s unstructured state is a lack of use of appropriate data analytics tools and technology. But data organization has been easier thanks to these tools and technology. The burgeoning data analytics sector has resulted in the development of powerful BI technologies that allow businesses to collect and evaluate data seamlessly. 

Did you know that the global business data and analytics industry is expected to reach $665 billion by 2033?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics are two trends that help businesses manage risk and make decisions. To know more about what business intelligence is, how it works & its benefits for business, keep reading.

Also Read: Benefits of Business Intelligence

What is Business Intelligence? 

Business intelligence is a set of tools and processes that collect, analyze, and interpret data to get insights and make informed decisions within a business. 

Business intelligence solutions provide businesses with insights into a company’s current and historical performance. These technologies assist businesses in predicting what will happen in the future. Business intelligence technologies mine data, perform text and predictive analytics and provide users with dashboards and tools for interacting and sorting data.

BI refers to a set of resources that a company can use to collect data, rather than a specific application. 

A point-of-sale system, for example, may collect receipt data throughout the checkout process, while online analytics tools capture website traffic and usage patterns. The same is true of an inventory system, which keeps track of the things you have on hand so you can quickly see what you might need to reorder. Each of these tools is an example of business intelligence.

Also Read: Decision Intelligence Vs Business Intelligence

How Business Intelligence Works? 

Business Intelligence is more than just software; it is a strategic framework that integrates data-driven insights into every aspect of a company’s operations. Beyond tools and technology, it involves a combination of processes, methodologies, and cultural practices designed to harness the power of data effectively. 

• BI tools have typically relied on data warehouses to provide baseline information. A data warehouse’s strength is its ability to combine information from several sources into a single, central system, facilitating business data reporting and analytics. BI offers the results to the user in the form of reports, charts, and maps, which may be viewed via a dashboard.

• Data warehouses can include an online analytical analysis (OLAP) engine to handle multidimensional queries. Consider the following: “What are the sales for the eastern region versus the western region this year, compared to last year?”
• OLAP offers robust technology for data discovery, enabling predictive analytics, BI, and intricate analytical computations. One of the primary advantages of OLAP is the consistency of its calculations, which can help enhance product quality, customer interactions, and corporate processes.
• Data lakehouses are increasingly also used for business intelligence. A data lakehouse has the advantage of attempting to address the fundamental issues with data lakes and data warehouses in order to provide businesses with a better data management solution. A lakehouse represents the next generation of data management systems.

Also Read: Business Intelligence Vs Machine Learning

Typically, the phases in BI proceed as follows:

• Sources of data: Determine whether data from sources like a data lake or warehouse, cloud, industry statistics, supply chain, CRM, inventory, pricing, sales, marketing, or social media will be examined and analyzed. Data warehouses are still frequently the preferred data source, however, some more recent BI systems can directly extract and load raw data to save time and make real-time decisions. 
• Data collection: Compile and purify information from multiple sources. This data preparation could involve using an automatic extract, transform, and load (ETL) application or manually compiling information in a spreadsheet.
• Analysis: Examine the data for patterns or surprising outcomes. This could include data mining, finding, or modeling techniques.
• Visualization: Utilize business information to create dashboards, graphs, and data visualizations. There are so many tools that you can leverage to unlock the visualization capabilities. In order to examine different data levels, this visualization should ideally have drill-down, drill-through, and drill-up capabilities.
• Action plan: Compare historical data with key performance indicators (KPIs) to create insights that can be implemented. Possible actions include more efficient procedures, marketing modifications, supply chain difficulties, or responding to customer experiences.

Also Read: Business Intelligence Vs Data Analytics Services

According to research, 56% of companies say BI has helped them make well-informed decisions more quickly, and 64% say it has increased their production and efficiency.

The Best Benefits of Business Intelligence for Businesses!

1. Increased Productivity in the Workplace

Every company is striving to become the best, but productivity is frequently one of the factors that is neglected, which has a big effect on their bottom line. 

So, what to do? Well, the answer lies in leveraging data analytics tools with Business intelligence capabilities, that help businesses to effectively track productivity, measure quantitative goals of an organization, get feedback on the inefficiencies of the business process, find out cost-cutting areas in your business, etc. BI even helps businesses uncover shifting trends in the sector and develop plans of action to boost productivity and predict results.

FedEx, a global leader in logistics and shipping, has successfully utilized BI tools to improve delivery efficiency and reduce operational costs. By developing a centralized data platform, FedEx Dataworks, the company integrates real-time data from various sources, including GPS trackers, weather forecasts, and traffic updates. This comprehensive data collection enables FedEx to optimize delivery routes and anticipate potential delays.

Also Read: How to Increase Restaurant Sales Without Advertising

2. Create a Data-Driven Environment 

In this growing data-centric market, businesses that keep the data at the core will rise to the top and achieve a competitive edge. So, businesses need to create a data-centric environment within an organization. 

All in all, by having the right and structured data – businesses can analyze the past and improve their current business operations, improve the bottom line, and make data-driven decisions. 

With the correct BI tools, businesses can become more data-driven, boost performance, acquire a competitive edge, and find new clients and prospects. They can increase return on investment by knowing their market and business and strategically deploying resources to achieve strategic goals. 

New data insights can disclose consumer behavior, preferences, and market trends. Marketers can use these insights to better target prospects or adjust products to meet shifting consumer demands.

Also Read: Data-Driven Social Media Strategies for Businesses

3. More Understandable Reporting

BI enables businesses to pose queries in simple terms and receive responses that make sense. Dashboards enable data experts and nontechnical team members to save time by prioritizing the most critical insights.

Instead of making best guesses, employees may make decisions on what their business data tells them—whether it’s about production, supply chain, customers, or market trends. The data can assist an organization answer the following important questions: Why are sales in this area declining? Where is our extra inventory located? What do consumers have to say on social media?  

For example, a small business can use BI dashboards to track customer feedback from social media. Based on the data collected, the BI has identified that customers are adding frequent complaints about delayed customer support. These data then prompt the company to increase staffing during peak hours to improve customer satisfaction scores.

With all the right data in place, businesses can answer all those questions effectively (which were earlier based on mere gut and guesswork) and make data-driven decisions that not only improve operations and reduce inefficiencies but also boost ROI and revenue.

Also Read: How Data-Analytics Process Automation Help Businesses

4. Improved Decision-Making

Businesses most of the times takes crucial business out of guesswork – which sometimes does not work in the favor for businesses and putting the future at stack. But, businesses has lot of structured and unstructured (of past and present as well) that businesses can leverage to take successful business decisions. 

In a world overflowing with data, the ability to make informed decisions is a game-changer for businesses. The best BI tools have the ability to turn raw data into actionable insights, allowing businesses to see the bigger picture while diving into granular details when needed.    

For instance, instead of relying on intuition to understand why sales are declining in a specific region, BI tools can uncover trends such as shifting customer preferences, ineffective promotions, or supply chain disruptions.  

This insight empowers businesses to take proactive measures, such as redesigning marketing campaigns, improving product offerings, or addressing logistical challenges, ensuring decisions are both timely and strategic.

Also Read: Benefits of Data-Driven Decision Making

5. Finding Opportunities

With business intelligence (BI), you may examine all business data (both customer and business-facing) using both qualitative and quantitative methods to gain a general understanding of the company, consumer behavior, industry trends, and possibilities. 

In the dynamic and expanding market, it assists companies in grasping chances to propel innovation and expansion, thereby becoming leaders in their respective industries.

However, to innovate, you need data to determine what works and what doesn’t for your clients. To make wise decisions and optimize profits, you can use business intelligence (BI) to assess company performance using data from customers and competitors.  

Obtaining a comprehensive perspective of business prospects and staying abreast of evolving market conditions, even assists you in recognizing trends and market conditions that propel your company to success and guarantee steady expansion.

Also Read: How Business Intelligence is Helping Businesses

6. Increased ROI

All businesses ultimately aim for higher ROI. But, not all the ROI indicators are quantitative, some are qualitative as well. And, it is difficult to keep track of everything and ensure the best-in-class results. 

Business intelligence may assist you in setting up metrics and KPIs that are aligned with your business goals, allowing you to track performance and ROI more effectively. By aligning your actions and results with the desired corporate goals, you may promote accountability.

Businesses can even use it to create real-time reports while they’re on the go. Dashboards and personalized reports give firms more visibility and better insight into how well their business operations are working. BI solutions assist you in increasing business profitability by analyzing and collecting relevant data to evaluate effectiveness and productivity-affecting elements.

Also Read: How AI Unlocks Business Insights that Drive Required Results

7. Enhanced Customer Understanding

In these competitive changing times, knowing your customers is no longer a competitive advantage—it’s a necessity. And, enhanced customer understanding is also one of the popular use-case of BI. 

BI tools help businesses deeply understand customer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns by analyzing vast amounts of data from various sources, such as sales transactions, social media interactions, and website analytics to ensure personalized pricing, offers, marketing, discounts, etc.  

For example, an e-commerce retailer may discover that a significant portion of its customers abandon their shopping carts after browsing for over 15 minutes. 

After getting these crucial customer insights, the company can introduce targeted strategies like personalized email reminders or discounts that bring back customers to complete their purchases, effectively converting abandoned carts into completed purchases. This customer-centric approach fosters loyalty, improves retention, and drives revenue.

Also, satisfied customers are more likely to come back, fostering loyalty and boosting profitability and bottom line.

Also Read: How AI Revolutionizes Customer Experience in the Restaurant Industry

8. Cost Reduction and Profitability

Every business is always on the lookout for the best practices to reduce costs and boost profitability. Plus, every dollar saved is a dollar earned, and BI tools are quite helpful in helping businesses uncover cost-saving opportunities. 

By analyzing expenses, resource allocation, and operational processes, BI tools identify areas of overspending and inefficiency – which in turn leads to cost reduction and boosts profitability.    

For instance, a restaurant chain using BI might realize that it’s overstocking ingredients for certain dishes that are rarely ordered, leading to unnecessary waste. With this data at work, businesses can optimize inventory ordering, renegotiate supplier contracts, or adjust menus, the business can reduce costs, and improve profitability. This level of financial visibility enables businesses to allocate resources more strategically and maximize their ROI. 

And, this is one of the many in which BI helps businesses to reduce costs and boost profitability.

Also Read: Cost-Effective AI Solutions For Restaurants

9. Keeping up with Market Trends 

A market trend is a changing pattern in the business world that affects standards. You can determine whether the market is heading upward or downward with the use of BI tools. 

As client tastes change and m

arket pressures fluctuate, it’s critical to understand what’s next. Business intelligence can help firms position themselves for success by providing insight into new trends and adapt accordingly. Additionally, thorough trend research enables businesses to develop both short- and long-term business plans that leverage existing data sources while remaining flexible enough to adjust as trends change. 

Additionally, you can employ business intelligence tools to identify specific market trends, such as artificial intelligence (AI), new regulations, and consumer preferences. Businesses can utilize market trend detection to tailor their strategies and capitalize on market shifts.

Also Read: AI For Restaurant Marketing for Maximum Conversions

10. Improved Collaboration Across Teams

Data silos can stifle collaboration and lead to inconsistent decision-making. And, this is not something that businesses of today want. But, BI tools are at the rescue and help businesses in breaking down these barriers by centralizing data and making it accessible to all teams. When crucial business and customer data is available across business, they can make data-driven decisions driving business up for success. 

• For example, stakeholders and decision-makers can capitalize on crucial data of trends, shaping how to take business forward. 
• Marketers can leverage data collected from BI tools for targeted marketing and drive the desired results. 
• Operations team can leverage to better manage inventory and supply chain. 
• Sales team using BI might share insights on top-performing products and the slow permoning tp better plan strategies around the same. 

So, in this team – the whole of company leverages the data s to guide decision-making, streamline operations, reduce costs and boost profitability. 

To Wrap! 

Companies are flooded with data, and a business intelligence strategy relies on organizing that data and providing it with the necessary technologies to boost analysis efforts and avoid overwhelming decision-making.

Simply said, data intelligence enables companies to make well-informed business decisions by taking raw, frequently meaningless data and presenting it in a format that is easy to understand, visible, and helpful. 

Looking ahead, the future of business intelligence (BI) looks promising, particularly with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These technologies will further simplify difficult operations, increasing the usability and potency of BI solutions. 
The key to achieving the best results is choosing the best-in-class data platform with AI & ML capabilities. Well, to make your search easier – you can try out Livelytics. It is a top-notch AI data platform equipped with the best features and capabilities to make the most out of data for your business. To learn about Livelytics and how it is beneficial for your business – book a free demo now.