Business intelligence systems – what are they?
Business Intelligence (BI) systems are advanced technologies and tools that help companies collect, analyze and transform business data into valuable information. Their main goal is to improve decision-making processes by providing reliable and timely data.
Companies use BI systems in a variety of ways to gain a competitive advantage in the market. First of all, they allow you to collect data from different sources, such as databases, Excel files or CRM systems, and then integrate them in one place. This allows executives and employees in various departments to analyze data in real time, allowing them to respond quickly to changing market conditions.
In addition, BI systems enable the creation of advanced reports and summaries that help identify trends, forecast financial results and monitor the effectiveness of ongoing operations. By analyzing data using business intelligence systems, companies can make more informed business decisions, resulting in increased operational efficiency and company profits.
What BI systems are available on the market?
There are many popular Business Intelligence (BI) systems on the market that help companies analyze data and make accurate decisions. Among them, it is worth mentioning:
- Power BI: Power BI is a business intelligence tool developed by Microsoft. It allows users to combine data from different sources, create interactive reports and charts, and share them online. With a simple interface, users can transform the data they have into clear visualizations, making it easier to understand trends and analyze data in real time.
- Microsoft Fabric: Microsoft Fabric combines various Microsoft services into one comprehensive tool available under one umbrella. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of services, including data lake, engineering and data integration, to streamline analysis and report preparation in every department of the organization.
- Tableau: Tableau is a BI tool that enables interactive data analysis and advanced visualizations. With an intuitive interface, users can easily explore data, drag and drop items into interactive reports, and create interactive dashboards. Tableau also offers advanced analysis features, including competitive advantage analysis, forecasting and statistics.
- QlikView/Qlik Sense: QlikView and Qlik Sense are Qlik’s products that enable real-time data analysis. QlikView allows the creation of interactive dashboards, while Qlik Sense is more focused on self-service data analysis. Both tools allow you to explore the data and discover hidden patterns.
- IBM Cognos Analytics: Cognos Analytics is a BI platform developed by IBM. It allows you to create reports, analyze data, build dashboards and perform advanced predictive analysis. The platform also offers integration with other IBM tools and data from various sources.
- SAP BusinessObjects: SAP BusinessObjects is a comprehensive BI tool that enables you to create reports, analyze data and monitor business performance. The platform also offers advanced features such as workflow analysis, market trend prediction and integration with data from various sources.
Each of these BI systems has its own unique features and advantages, allowing companies to choose the tool that best suits their business needs and the level of data analysis sophistication they require. However, the market leader has continuously been Power BI for several years, as confirmed by the results of the Gartner Magic Quadrant survey.
Constant access to data with Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a complete set of analytical tools that support an organization’s operations in many areas – from sales to customer service to finance or employee management. The built-in system provides the company with a consistent view of business data from a single dashboard, which in turn allows for consistent data analysis and reduces reporting time and costs. All data is collected around the clock – on computers and mobile devices, allowing access to it anywhere, anytime.
Displaying and managing data through the interface also ensures high usability. This is because team members can analyze exactly the data they need at the moment, without having to query other teams. This allows them to make their own decisions – faster and better.
Drawing conclusions from data analysis
Business Intelligence tools are used to integrate data to enable more efficient:
- discovering important data,
- Finding correlations between phenomena,
- Understanding these phenomena and drawing conclusions.
Data discovery is a process in which unknown or unusual patterns are picked up with just a few clicks. Smart BI solutions, including Power BI, are able to recognize and group pre-cleaned data on their own. Such valuable collections are then searched to capture relationships. Predictive mechanisms also play a large role in this, facilitating the tracking of trends in real time. For example, we can trace the relationship between the prices of a product or service and the demand for it. Such knowledge facilitates business decisions.
Most operations are done automatically or via drag-and-drop, which means ease of use for the average business user.
Automatic reporting
Automated analytics allows BI system users to easily analyze data, create their own reports and modify existing ones without training. This is especially important in the case of extended organizations where many reports are prepared.
Advanced Power BI tools allow for attractive data visualization – with the option to easily create reports and the ability to quickly publish them to the service. Recipients of the reports can conveniently view them, but also modify them by adding their own calculation functions to the report. The high flexibility of the system translates into significant savings in employee time and energy.
Enhanced data analytics
Augmented analytics is one of the leading trends in data analytics. It offers automation of data analysis through the use of machine learning and natural processing. As a result, it solves the problem present in many organizations of generating knowledge from data. How? Automated algorithms process the data and capture recurring patterns among them. This reduces the risk of missing out on valuable information, while increasing the accuracy of business decisions.
Decision-making support
Business intelligence systems play a key role in the decision-making process of companies. By analyzing data – including in real time and generating reports, companies gain a more complete picture. This enables managers and other decision makers to make more informed and accurate business decisions. They are supported not only by facts and figures, but also by intuition and experience, which translates into more effective management of resources and development strategy.
Monitoring business performance
In addition, business intelligence systems enable continuous monitoring of company performance at various levels. This allows the company to react quickly to changes and adjust its strategy based on current information. Data analysis helps identify areas where operational efficiency can be improved, as well as detect potential threats or opportunities for the company. Importantly, real-time analytics allows you to respond immediately to market changes and maintain a competitive position in the market.
Integrated data management
Implementation of a business intelligence system allows integration of data from different sources. This eliminates the need for multiple tools and platforms and makes it easier to manage the company’s data, while ensuring consistency of information and eliminating the risk of errors resulting from the use of outdated data. Integrated data management, in turn, ultimately translates into more efficient teams and better use of available resources.
Report personalization and mobile accessibility
With the help of business intelligence systems, it is also possible to personalize reports, allowing users to customize information. In addition, accessibility from smartphones to business data allows employees to use the information even when they are away from the office, increasing mobility and work flexibility. This is especially important in today’s business environment, where mobility is a key element in the efficient operation of businesses.
In summary, business intelligence systems offer not only data analysis tools, but also a full set of functions to support effective business management, accurate decision-making and adaptation to dynamic changes in the market.
The implementation of business intelligence class systems, such as Microsoft Power BI, is worth supporting with an analysis of the organization’s situation. We invite you to contact EBIS specialists – after learning the exact needs of your company, we will choose the optimal analytical solutions for your company!
