Business Intelligence

business intelligence conceptThe concept of business intelligence has been evolving since its inception in 1958 and its rapid development in the 1990s. The idea that an organization has to gather information about itself and its competitors is a core tenet of business dogma. The methods have changed and the people have changed but the basic ideas remain the same.

Any predictions about the future and particularly given the speed at which technology and business practice is changing, is purely speculative. In this article I attempt to put my own perspective of the future risks and opportunities in this area.

The first major development I expect is that business intelligence as a concept will have greater profile and influence over the average business structure. The entrance of competitors and the need to constantly revise practice in line with new trends means that without good business intelligence, firms will be hampered in the extent to which they can make viable ventures. Read the rest of this entry

Online Analytical ProcessingAt whatever point that a business owner or operator decides that good business intelligence is going to be a crucial part of their activities, it is important to assess and select some of the various tools that will assist towards achieving the ultimate objective of creating a viable business.

One of those tools will have to be Online Analytical Processing (OLAP). The purpose of this article is to provide a generalized framework in which the data skimmed online can be processed and eventually embedded within the day to day infrastructure of a business.

Of course, the level of detail, investment and sophistication will vary between a small firm and the multinational organization. However the basic concepts still remain the same. Read the rest of this entry

business analysis toolsDo you believe that business intelligence is some mumbo jumbo fantasized by greedy management consultants who are after your hard earned cash? Are you a business owner or manager who will not employ business analysis tools? Do you think you know your business inside out? Are you confident that there is nothing you can learn about your business? In other words are you complacent? If you are any of the above then you can think again.

If you have a particularly small business which employs less than 10 people and is primarily based locally, then chances are that you know a lot about your business or if not, just enough to make sure that it doesn’t go under. However if you are running a larger show, you may never be able to understand what goes on in your company and surely that is a recipe for disaster. Read the rest of this entry