There is no doubt that business intelligence is making businesses (and their employees) smarter, faster and better at everything from competing in the market to satisfying their customers, optimizing resources and creating new products and services. The popularity of BI Tools is undeniable and, as you might expect, recent studies and research validates the growth of the market, and the ways in which businesses leverage business intelligence to achieve, improve and sustain success.Here are some thought-provoking facts that will give you a better idea of how businesses are using BI tools to succeed:
Predicting Human Behavior – A recent partnership between Microsoft and the University of Rochester revealed that BI tools could actually predict where a person would be at a particular time on a particular day, based on publicly available information about that person’s buying, domestic and travel habits (Study Link). Imagine being able to predict your application user or consumer behavior and buying patterns 80 weeks into the future, with 80% accuracy. What do you think you could do with that information?Software ROI Results – Consider the study published by Nucleus Research that revealed a direct correlation between spending on BI tools and improved revenue. If your executive management team is loathe to spend money on a business intelligence software suite, you might want to tell them that the companies that implemented BI made $10.66 on every dollar they spent on the BI Tool (Study Link)
Rapid Decision-Making – Did you know that businesses using business intelligence and deep dive analytics make faster decisions? If you could make your decision process more timely and accurate, why wouldn’t you do that? Don’t fall behind your competitors or struggle with opinion-based decisions about new products, pricing, financial investments, employee training, resource management, or business expansion or location questions. Use performance-driven, fact-based data to make your decisions and make course corrections in a timely fashion, and stay ahead of the competition. (Forbes Article Reference)
Those are just some of the possibilities and reasons for considering an investment in a business intelligence software suite. There are hundreds more reasons to invest in BI tools – not the least of which is the fact that your competitors are already there. So, if you haven’t yet explored the opportunities and business mandates for business intelligence, you are already behind the curve!
Certainly, every business is different and your requirements will be unique. So, be certain to develop a thorough and complete picture of your business needs, and consider how and why you will be using the BI tool and how you anticipate your business will grow. You will want to select a vendor and a business intelligence software solution that is flexible enough to grow with your needs – one that provides a self-serve, intuitive user interface with mobile capabilities and high performance to satisfy user base growth and expanded business requirements.
