The true purpose of Business Intelligence, BI

As technology in registering, storing and presenting information in various IT-based tools develop, enormous possibilities emerge in the wake of Big Data.

BI, as everyone knows, is an abbreviation of Business Intelligence, but what does that really mean? Business is business – pure and simple. Intelligence is somewhat trickier and sometimes confused with information. Intelligence is not the same as information. Intelligence, simplified, means information you can act upon. It is not just any piece of information.

From that perspective Business Intelligence is about providing information you can act upon to drive performance and improve your business. In that sense, BI also has little to do with reporting.

So, before you dive in to the wonderful world of IT-solutions promising the world with ever so beautiful features, do your homework. Contemplate how the usage of these lovely tools are to be integrated in your management process to drive business behaviors. That is the purpose of BI.