BI Software Insight

Business Intelligence refers to the methods and technologies that businesses use to gather and analyze raw data to help companies make business decisions. Business intelligence is not a new concept – the term was first introduced in the late 1980s but didn’t gain widespread usage until the early 2000s. In the beginning, the IT department would run complex business reports and share them with top executives. Now, thanks to a wide range of business intelligence software, any business user can run and access the information themselves in a quick manner.

Business Intelligence software gives businesses a way to keep all their data in one place where it can be viewed and combined into reports. Rather than each department and functional area keeping its own databases and documents, business intelligence software collects all of that information and combines it in one system where it can easily be accessed, organized, and used to make business decisions.

Business Intelligence is often called an “umbrella term” and refers to the technologies and activities that extract meaning out of large sets of data. BI activities include querying, reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining. Whether you’re sorting columns in spreadsheets or trolling through terabytes of Big Data using sophisticated software, some basic background information is helpful.