When you think of the term “Business Intelligence”, what comes to your mind? You might think about a team of salespeople crunching numbers and crunching even more numbers, while a business development executive is huddled with numbers and statistics as they try to figure out the best way to position their company for future success. Alternatively, Business Intelligence may involve any number of individuals who are dedicated to using information to make strategic and tactical decisions about the business. While each of these scenarios may have its own merits, they all share a common enemy: business intelligence.
Business Intelligence covers every aspect of a business. It’s not just about crunching numbers, it’s also about understanding where those numbers lead and how they might impact the business. In fact, business intelligence is all about making better decisions.
After all, isn’t that why so many business people get involved in the first place?
One of the more common misconceptions about business intelligence (which is the reason it is so easy to misunderstand) is that it’s about trying to find the “lucky number.” Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a “lucky number.” No matter how much someone thinks they “should” be doing, chances are, they “are” doing exactly the wrong thing. The idea that one number will lead your business one way is just crazy. The idea that one number can be considered the key to the business that is “winning” is even more problematic.
When a business intelligence expert analyzes a business, he or she looks for trends, behaviors, and fundamentals. These are the things that “speak” to the business in general. A business intelligence specialist has access to thousands upon thousands of charts, graphs, and tables, but these are still nothing more than indicators. If you are looking for a needle in a haystack, it’s very difficult to find one. On the other hand, if you know where to look, you can find needles all over the place.
The best business intelligence service will allow you to plug into its predictive models in order to see what is actually working. It will give you the best solution for the current state of affairs. This means that you should not have to do anything else, but simply plug in the numbers and watch the results come up. If you are able to plug in numbers like this routinely, then you are probably using some kind of business intelligence system. If you find out that you are not, then you need to seriously re-evaluate your strategy.
The best business intelligence service will not provide a blanket answer or “magic pill.” That is just silly. What they will do is give you a realistic blueprint to follow so that you can start making positive changes in the current state of affairs. They will also provide you with information that you simply cannot get anyplace else. In short, business intelligence is not blind.