Decision Intelligence vs Business Intelligence: How it Differs?

September 16, 2024    Reading Time: 10 minutes
Decision Intelligence vs Business Intelligence: How it Differs?

“Business Intelligence is about understanding what happened and why. Decision Intelligence is about understanding what should happen next and how to make it happen.”

The term “data-driven decisions” may seem like a new notion, but individuals have been using data to make business decisions for centuries.

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With the introduction of Decision Intelligence as a component of Business Intelligence, businesses have been sprinting to make sense of their data processes and deploy platforms and features that enable them to interpret large datasets. 

Decision Intelligence and Business Intelligence are connected concepts, but have distinct areas and applications that allow them to collaborate and achieve the greatest business results. When they work together, they perform even better.

This blog will discuss the distinctions between business intelligence and decision intelligence as well as how they complement one another to deliver the best results. Keep scrolling to know more about it. 

What is Business Intelligence? 

Business intelligence refers to the procedures, systems, and devices that convert raw data into actionable insights. Business intelligence makes use of historical data to improve operations now and in the future. 

Business users can access a variety of data types through BI tools, including unstructured data from social media and semi-structured data from third parties, as well as current and historical data from within the company. Users can use this data to acquire insights into how the company is operating and what steps should be taken next.

As stated by CIO magazine: “Business intelligence (BI) is not just about creating reports; it also goes beyond telling business users what to do or what will happen if they follow a particular path. Rather, business intelligence (BI) allows people to evaluate data in order to discover trends and develop insights.”

BI systems can collect a large quantity of data to generate reports, dashboards, and visualizations. By leveraging this data, BI helps businesses in identifying problems, spot market trends and find new revenue or business opportunities which leads to strategic planning, performance monitoring, and decision-making.

Also Read: Business Intelligence In Retail 

What is Decision Intelligence? 

Decision intelligence is a growing field that blends business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI) to help firms enhance their decision-making processes. 

Business intelligence technologies enable firms to analyze, visualize, and extract insights; decision intelligence, on the other hand, helps translate those insights into important business decisions.

Chief Decision Scientist at Google Cassie Kozyrkov defines DI as “a new field of study that addresses all aspects of selecting between options,” as she writes in Toward Data Science.

It unifies the finest aspects of social science, managerial science, and applied data science into a single field that assists individuals in using data to enhance their enterprises, personal lives, and the community at large.

DI employs data and predictive models to help businesses make decisions that are faster, easier, more accurate, and consistent.

Decision intelligence offers recommendations on how companies can find opportunities, create plans, formulate strategies, start projects, and forecast results. 

One of the most important features of business intelligence is the ability to sift through current and historical data to obtain insights.

Decision intelligence goes one step further. It fosters a powerful convergence of technical expertise and business acumen that produces game-changing decisions.

Also Read: Advantages of Business Intelligence In Retail Industry 

The Core Components of Business Intelligence 

Decision intelligence is one crucial aspect of Business Intelligence. The data collected in the BI stages sets the foundation for the later stages. 

Let’s go Through the Core Components to Understand How BI Works and Helps Businesses: 

These essential components, when combined, enable businesses to slice and dice data, run ad hoc queries, and build interactive reports, which help businesses leverage the sophisticated capabilities of BI which lays the foundation for successful decision intelligence. 

The Core Components of Decision Intelligence 

Decision Intelligence takes the capabilities of Business Intelligence to the next level by incorporating advanced analytics, AI tools, and automation into the decision-making process. 

Decision Intelligence vs Business Intelligence: The Points of Difference! 

Decision Intelligence vs Business Intelligence: The Points of Difference!
  1. Focus and Scope:
  1. Analytical Depth:
  1. Decision-Making Process:
  1. Technology and Tools:
  1. The depth of the Data 
  1. The Focus of the Data

How do Decision Intelligence & Business Intelligence Work Together? 

When Decision Intelligence (DI) and Business Intelligence (BI) work together, it’s like getting the best of both worlds in decision-making. BI gives you a solid base by analyzing past and current data, helping you understand what happened and why. 

It’s perfect for spotting trends, tracking performance, and making decisions based on solid information. But when you bring DI into the mix, things get even better.

DI uses advanced tools like AI and machine learning to take those BI insights and look ahead, predicting what might happen next and suggesting the best steps to take. 

So, with BI and DI together, you’re not just reacting to the past—you’re also planning for the future, making smarter decisions that keep you ahead and on track with your goals.

But, the data and the suggestions can be overwhelming and sometimes misleading as well. So, you need to choose the right platform that combines the best of both worlds and helps you make the most of the data for your business.

To Make Things Simple, let’s Understand With The Help Of An Example: 

Example: Imagine you’re running a retail chain, and you’ve been using BI to look at last year’s sales data. BI helps you figure out which products were best-sellers, which stores performed well, and which marketing campaigns hit the mark.

That’s super helpful for planning the year ahead—stocking up on popular items and tweaking your marketing strategy. 

But to make things easier for you, the DI comes into the picture. DI can take that same data and predict which products will be the next big hit based on current trends and customer behavior. It might even suggest specific marketing campaigns tailored to different customer groups. 

So, by using both BI and DI, you’re not just planning based on what worked last year—you’re making strategic decisions that are set to maximize your success in the upcoming season.

Also Read: Choosing the Right Ai Platform for Your Business

How to Choose the Right Platform?

How to Choose the Right Platform?

Choosing the Best Ai platform with best-in-class BI and DI capabilities can make a world of difference. It streamlines decision-making and operations for your business. Let’s understand how to choose the right platform and get the best results for your business. 

  1. Assess Your Business Needs:

The very first in choosing the right data platform is understanding what you want. You need to understand what your business needs, and the challenges you are facing and choose the right platform.

Consider the types of data you work with, the level of analytics you require, and whether your focus is on historical reporting, predictive modeling, or a combination of both. 

  1. Evaluate Ease of Integration:

You don’t want a platform that can’t integrate with your current business resources and data is scattered on different platforms – making things tough rather than simplifying.

So, make sure to look for platforms that can seamlessly integrate with your existing systems and data sources.

The platform should support a wide range of data connectors and APIs to ensure smooth data flow across all your tools.

  1. Consider User-Friendliness:

You and your staff will be using the platform, and the last thing you want is to put so many business resources into understanding the platform.

So, it should be easy to use for both technical and non-technical users. You need to look for features such as intuitive dashboards, drag-and-drop interfaces, and ease of access that make the platform more accessible across your organization.

  1. Check the Capabilities:

Another thing you should check while choosing the BI and DI platform is the features. Believe me, you don’t want all the features – you just need the right ones.

Based on business requirements, you can make a decision. However, just to make things easier, make sure to look out for sophisticated technologies like AI and ML for effective BI and DI.

Also, data visualization, real-time analytics, processing unstructured data, data segmentation, and augmentation are some of the features that should not be ignored. 

  1. Support & Assistance 

Robust support & assistance is yet another unforgettable when choosing your platform vendor.

The last thing you want is – your platform is down but the vendor is unable to assist you and you are left stranded.

So, consider what kind of support they are offering, the documentation, availability of their support team, what are the costing(if any), is there are hidden charges involved and other things around. 

  1. Analyze Cost vs. ROI:

Last but not least, comparing the platform cost and ROI in the long run, You need to analyze, whether it is worth the investment or not.

For that, you can compare the cost of the platform with the potential return on investment (ROI). Also, the amount you have to invest is based on your requirements. 

Here’s the tip: If you are a small business, you can start with a subscription-based model which can increase as you scale up and even if you are a big enterprise, you can choose the subscription as a feature requirement and can adjust accordingly. 

Here’s The Thing to Make The Decision Easier For You: 

It becomes simple to make the right decision when you firsthand see the platform working in business situations.

And, to do that – so many platforms offer free trials and demos. This will give you a better understanding of how it fits with your workflow and whether it meets your expectations. 

If you would like to check out our platform and find out how it can help your business, book a free demo with Livelytics. It is a one-of-a-kind platform with AI and ML capabilities to streamline your business operations with BI and DI. 

To Conclude 

So, businesses are leveraging the powerful capabilities of BI and DI and for all the good reasons. It can be game-changer for making smart decisions.

BI helps you understand what’s happened in the past, while DI looks ahead to predict what might happen and suggests the best actions to take. 

This combination helps you stay ahead, make better decisions, and reach your goals more effectively. The key is finding the right platform that brings the best of both worlds together. 

And, while you are looking for one – you can check out Livelytics. We have curated a feature-rich, cost-effective, subscription based platform with AI and ML capabilities to help restaurant, retail, salon and hospitality businesses make the most out of it for their personalized business needs. 

Book your free demo now & find yourself.