What is Business Intelligence?

Business Intelligence History & Definitions

The term business intelligence is used to define a wide range of applications designed to help users make sound business decisions. These applications may facilitate the gathering, analyzing, and accessing of data, among other tasks.

The term started with IBM researcher Hans Peter Luhn, who in a 1958 research paper used the term. He defined intelligence as: "the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal."

While this term is widely used in today's business world, it was not until many years later, in a 1996 mention in a Gartner Group report, which applied BI to a discussion of the best strategies to rise above the competition, that BI became a universally accepted definition.

Technologies within this field can provide historical, current and up-to-date, as well as predictive views of business operations and sales. Common functions of Business Intelligence technologies are OLAP, detailed reporting, analytics, data mining, business performance management benchmarking, text mining, and predictive analytics.

Is a BI-application the same as a data warehouse?

Simple answer: no. The data warehouse collects all of the data, and is central to that process. The fact that data resides in one place is useful, but it's not a pre-requisite. Making information easily discoverable and presentable, in several different ways, is key. The information must be presented on different platforms, which now also includes mobile. Users also need real-time updates, and information should be readily available.

Short video to explain how to get results with BI

What Are Key Business Intelligence Applications?

Business Intelligence Applications can be:

  • Centrally initiated and/or powered by user demand
  • Localized to one specific project, department, division, or company, or enterprise-wide
  • A critical, recurring component of successful business strategies
  • One-time implementations in order to meet a goal or to satisfy a specific requirement

A New Era of Business Intelligence - Software Solutions for Today's Business World

Cloud9 Analytics specializes in providing business intelligence-based Operational Management solutions, offering platforms, tools, and services designed to help individuals, and their businesses succeed.

Cloud9s first product, designed for sales managers that use Salesforce CRM, automates all of the heavy lifting required to install, build, and deploy business intelligence solutions internally. Delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) over the Internet, the Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator Suite is an application that provides sales managers with precise answers to very specific questions they have about deals in their pipeline and forecast that are impossible to get from Salesforce.

With Cloud9, there is no building, no platforms, and no technical services. Just the answers that sales leaders like you need to make the right decisions.

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