What is Business Intelligence?

Originally a term coined by the Gartner Group in 1993, Business Intelligence ("BI") is a broad range of software and solutions aimed at collection, consolidation, analysis and providing access to information that allows users across the business to make better decisions.

The technology includes software for database query and analysis, multidimensional databases, data warehousing and data mining, and nowadays web enabled reporting capabilities. It is applied across different business areas, including customer databases, supply chain information, personnel data, manufacturing, sales and marketing activity as well as any other source of information critical to your operation. Business intelligence software allows you to integrate these disparate data sources into a single coherent framework for real-time reporting and detailed analysis by anyone in your extended enterprise - customers, partners, employees, managers and executives.

There is a very limited practical application of BI software for small companies since the control of all business aspects is concentrated in hands of a few individuals, who tend to have a great deal of knowledge about their business. However, for large companies Business Intelligence solutions can prove to be invaluable. Fortunately, if your enterprise is in need of this type of integrated solution, currently, there are many options available to choose from to fit practically any business enterprise budget.