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What Is Business Intelligence (BI)?
Business Intelligence (BI) is a tech-driven process that helps businesses analyze digital data to make smarter decisions. It starts by collecting data from different sources—like internal systems and external databases—into one central place called a data warehouse. From there, the data is connected and analyzed to uncover insights about market trends, business performance, potential risks, and opportunities for improvement. In short, BI turns raw data into useful information that supports better planning and strategy.
What are the 4 concepts of business intelligence?
Business Intelligence is based on four key concepts:
- Data Mining and Analysis – digging into data to discover patterns and trends.
- Reporting and Visualization – turning data into clear, visual reports that are easy to understand.
- Performance Management and Benchmarking – tracking how well the business is doing and comparing it to goals or industry standards.
- Predictive Analytics – using data to forecast future outcomes and make proactive decisions.
Together, these concepts help businesses unlock valuable insights, improve decision-making, and boost overall performance.
What Is an Example of Business Intelligence?
A good example of Business Intelligence (BI) in action is a point-of-sale system that records every transaction at checkout. Or think about website analytics tools that track how visitors use a site. Even inventory systems that monitor stock levels and alert you when it’s time to reorder fall under BI.
These tools don’t just collect data—they help make sense of it. BI tools analyze the data, spot patterns, and provide dashboards so users can explore and use the information to make smarter business decisions.
