business intelligence - Page 1

12 Buzzwords in BI today

Like all areas of life, the world of business intelligence is filled with its own trends and buzzwords. We take a look at 12 of the biggest of 2016: Big Data This seems to be the major buzzword in BI over the past few years, referring to the large volume, variety and speed of data gathered to reach such a point that simply comprehending the sheer amount of available data becomes a challenge to the user. Data-centric industries such as telecommunications have had large sets of data for many years, predating this buzzword, and lead the field in terms of Big Data assembly and analysis. Cloud BI Like all cloud-based software, Cloud BI allows users to access their data from...

10 Ways Business Intelligence can help small businesses thrive

Business Intelligence is an important topic these days, yet the perception remains that small businesses don’t need to analyse their data, that it doesn’t apply to them nor bring value to their business. Those in the know are fully aware this is untrue and that the right data can help any business thrive in an increasingly data-laden world. Here are a few tips on what business intelligence can do for your small business! Prioritise The right data coming to you from the right analytics streams can help clear the deadwood from view, showing you where you should be prioritising your small business’ focus and resources. Are you too focused on areas that your instinct or company’s history...

Designing Visualization

The old expression goes: “A picture tells a thousand words”. Never has this been truer than today, as with the increasing loads of data available to us we collect more and more from an ever increasing range of sources. It’s important to be able to present and read this information in a clear and easy manner. Whether you’re keeping it in-house or presenting to investors or partners, do yourself and all that data you’ve worked so hard to collect a favour, and use great data visualisation. I can’t overstate the importance of easy-to-understand visualisation systems, but if your reader or viewer can’t understand what’s in front of them, you’ve lost them, and possibly...

Calm from Chaos: How data can change your business

Here’s a simple truth of the 21st century: data changes businesses. Or more accurately, making sense of your data and acting on it changes businesses. If your tendency is to say, “I’m a small business. Data isn’t relevant to me”, you’re missing out on huge opportunities to revolutionise how you conduct your business. From Fortune 500 enterprises to corner shops, data management and analysis will change how we do business, inside and out. 1. Data as an asset Data collection isn’t just for the big boys these days. While we read reports about “big data” and it’s growing impact in our daily lives both as business owners and as consumers, it’s easy...

The Real Cost of Business Intelligence

Many companies and organisations assume that business intelligence software and platforms are costly to buy and difficult to use, but like many things in life, there’s no one single cost that can be dangled in front of customers. Your initial BI software costs vary greatly from platform to platform, from seller to seller, with further expenses coming through the deployment of the software and training users. Sometimes it can seem that the more options you look at, the more confusing the whole scenario becomes, especially when it’s considered that many of the decision-makers aren’t experts in BI and often won’t even be the end user of the information. While the topic of data grows with importance,...