Today’s businesses have to deal with large volumes of data on a daily, hourly, or even minute-by-minute basis. The data can be of low importance, medium importance or critically important. The ways in which a business deals (or doesn’t deal) with these increasingly complex and interlinked datasets can make the difference between an operation which is well-functioning and one that is hampered by poor performance. A state of affairs where the business data’s processing is seen to be a nuisance, chore, bottleneck or even a cause of a downward spiral is a situation which must be avoided. For a profitable, well-managed business with maximal profit and growth opportunities, the data collating, processing and disseminating will be dependent on some form of Business Intelligence Software. In today’s business markets, the sheer volume and complexity of data will make data processing the “nerve center” for any big business.
As mentioned earlier, business data to be used by programmers, report designers and managers with Business Intelligence Software will consist of many different data types, formats and flow directions. For instance, a business will have incoming data which could be collected from the World Wide Web, customers and clients, other businesses or data centres / data warehouses. The business will certainly have data which is manifested within the business' structure itself; this will be data changing on a real-time basis which is used for transactions and analysis or feedback, for example, sales prices, reference numbers, salaries, product information and so-on. Then there will be outgoing data, which may be fed back into the business for analysis or sent off to another organisation or collated for historical purposes. These data types will be complex and could be structured in many different ways, for instance unstructured data will be randomly stored emails, videos, memos, notes, news, users, reports, presentations, marketing materials and so-on. Semi-structured data will be held in some form of relational database, or as a “BLOB” (binary large object), in other words, data which can’t be held in columns or rows. Then there will be structured data, which is standard column-row formatted data. All of these may be incoming, internal or outgoing. Business Intelligence Software will be able to orient these datasets objectively and process all these data types; providing easy analysis and output reports in any format required. 1:
Business Intelligence Software will take on the tasks associated with all aspects of maximizing Business Intelligence, for instance, collecting data to analyze a business provides important information, requiring business analytics, querying and reporting. This analysis data will be used for further measurement, analytics, reporting, collaboration and knowledge management by programmers, report designers and management personnel. Requirements gathering will also be a part of business analytics; carried out on a macro or micro-level; understanding the business’ requirements will be at the core of daily business processes and hence, critical to successful collating and storing (warehousing) of data. Business Intelligence Software will play a vital part in carrying out these processes. This data must be prioritized by it's usage within the organization and according to the benefits acquired by the data's utilization. Requirements gathering will occur through interviewing staff at each level and aspect of the business, analyzing their input-output processes and looking to break the whole business down into logical steps and process flows The amount and quality of the data obtained and used will be crucial to the business, and will be the factor by which a Business Intelligence strategy will win or fail. Business management cannot function effectively without data, and poor quality data will hinder the businesses progress immensely. Business Intelligence Software will provide swift analysis of this data, showing the content, consistency and structure of the data collected and used. This process should be carried out as soon as possible so that potential weaknesses can be recognized and worked on.
Business Intelligence Software will be able to provide a clear, easy to implement and flexible approach to these processes of business analytics and intelligence gathering. This will result in improved methodology, project management, vision planning, data quality, management support, business framework and overall performance of the business; the results of which can be fed back periodically into the business itself to provide the optimum potential for business growth. If you are a manager responsible for selecting which Business Intelligence Software to use, a report designer or a programmer, it is vital to keep on top of the data flows, input / output objectives, object-oriented business structure and periodic or real-time strategies. Initiating changes to these Business Intelligence strategies and keeping track of progress in a businesses structure is only realistically feasible with the correct choice and implementation of Business Intelligence Software. The modern trend towards complex and high-volume data flows and their integration within a business means using Business Intelligence Software will allow maximally quick and accurate analysis of any kind of large modern business.Applying this software-oriented approach to business intelligence is the only solution to a situation where otherwise, many man-hours and resources in the business will potentially be wasted.
