In the simplest terms, business intelligence analysis is used to determine the most effective strategy for a business and its operations. The term “business intelligence” covers a broad range of disciplines that are designed to support decision-making in the business realm. This includes understanding consumer attitudes, preferences, purchasing habits and the social networks that surround them.
The categories of business intelligence differ depending on the purpose of the study. For example, there are some categories that focus entirely on retailing. Others may focus on technology, the environment, government, branding and several other categories. There are also sub-categories such as market research, customer insight, demand forecasting and many others.
All of these different categories, however, fall under one fundamental category that can be categorized into two main subsets. Analysis of the first category seeks to understand the factors and drivers behind the behavior of consumers and investors in buying a particular product or service. Analysis of the second category seeks to understand the fundamental concepts behind business decisions in general. Some categories of business intelligence include understanding the competitive aspects of the market, the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and the overall financial strength of the company.
One very important feature of the fundamental category of business intelligence is the ability to collect information at various levels and using various methods.
Data collection at the point of product design, development and pricing is only the beginning of what is possible with this valuable tool. Data mining is another feature of this category that seeks to mine unstructured data from the internet and other sources for various factors related to the business operations. This would include customer profiles, sales patterns and various other factors.
In order for business intelligence specialists to effectively communicate the facts that they have uncovered in each category, it is necessary for them to create an overall approach to how they analyze business data. While some analysts simply choose to collect facts and relay them to management in the form of reports, there are others who go the extra mile and develop business intelligence products such as webinars and podcasts that can be downloaded so the entire organization can take in the information at one time. These are examples of the fundamental concepts of business intelligence that should always be incorporated into the process of decision making. Just because an analyst is communicating his findings through the medium of podcasting does not mean that the findings are being hidden. The fact that everyone involved in the process is able to listen to the same information at the same time goes a long way toward establishing greater consensus in the group.
Of course the fundamental category of business intelligence also encompasses the idea of business intelligence in non-traditional arenas. This includes everything from marketing research to philanthropy. There are a variety of ways that people use business tools in every part of the globe and business intelligence professionals continue to innovate in all of them. In the end, anyone who wants to understand the larger picture of any given situation should consider studying one of the useful categories of business.