Business intelligence tools are instrumental to business success because it will aid a company in releasing the power of learning from the past, based on the data and information it provides. These data and information can then be turned into powerful foresight. Business intelligence tools are essential, if you as a business owner understand the value of tapping the potential of your organization's historical data. This historical data when converted to information can in fact serve many valuable purposes to your business. In order to build a successful business you thus have to think of such data and information as an asset to your company.
One of the primary and widely used business intelligence tools being utilized is the spreadsheet. This is one of the first tools for business intelligence that have been used. It usually comes with the suite or software package you buy. A spreadsheet allows the business user to use mined data, input it in the spread sheet and come up with reports that are dependent on the commands you use. Even with the very basic spreadsheet program, the business owner could get a useful set of reports for management and decision making. You don't even need to go as far as using SQL and OLAP tools when generating reports for company tracking & management information. However, success in the business world does not rely solely on the use of the business tools. Aside the application of business tools such as the spreadsheet generates data or information, the success of your business would be dependent on ability your business management team to interpret or understand the information in terms that would be useful to the organization.
Today, more and more businesses are taking note of the fact that their most important asset is actually not their physical assets but their intangible assets which may come in the form of market intelligence. Business intelligence tools can help generate such information. The forecasts & analysis generated by such tools are now been considered as valuable assets by successful companies. Companies that do not know how to manage information by using different business intelligence tools might find themselves eating dust from their competitors. This makes it hard for the company to remain relevant without excellent market intelligence to back up its decision-making. On the other hand, companies that utilize business intelligence tools efficiently and analyze the reports they generate excellently, are more likely to become game changers and leaders in their industry.
There is so much you can do for your company if you have excellent understanding of the data and information. However, in order to get the most from business intelligence tools, you should be using them to adapt, learn, and change as well as to manage and control your organization. Adapting, learning and changing can come in the form of making changes to your products and services based on the market intelligence derived from the data and information. On the other hand, managing and controlling could come in the form of assessing the results of previous plans based on the new data and information. All of these are made possible with the effective use of business intelligence tools.
