Business intelligence is a buzzword that has been doing rounds for many years. You might have heard of it before and possibly wondered what it means. Overall, business intelligence feeds business analytics and processes through consolidating and analyzing data from a variety of sources. However, the truth about business intelligence is that it is meaningless without context. In other words, it is not enough to rely on raw intelligence to make business decisions. There must be a way to throw in a context that makes sense of the information.
One of the biggest challenges that business owners face when it comes to business intelligence is the ability to turn data into a compelling narrative. The truth is, many people struggle to transform information into actionable insights. It is not enough to have statistics at hand with no context – it is like looking at a blank canvas without an idea of what to paint on it. It is therefore critical to understand what business intelligence means in a business context.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to what business intelligence means in a business context. The meaning relies on the type of business and its objectives. For example, consider a business that specializes in creating solar energy products. It is evident that the business would focus on data like the number of solar panels produced, revenue generated, and sales figures.
However, the story changes when the business operates in an industry where there are many competitors. In this scenario, it is essential to consider contextual data like sales performance compared to that of competitors. Also, it is crucial to determine what customers think about the business vis-à-vis its competitors. These examples show how contextual data is critical when it comes to business intelligence.
Contextualized data is not limited to internal objective measurements like revenue from sales transactions. Some contextual data come from external sources like social media sentiment, conversation, or public perception of the brand. These external sources of data give the business intelligence team more insight into what their customers genuinely feel about the product or service.
When it comes down to it, data on its own is entirely meaningless. That is why contextualization is at the heart of successful business intelligence. Contextualization allows businesses to turn insights into actionable items. For example, the sales team can use contextual data to determine the correct pricing to beat their competitors. Or the marketing team can use contextual data to understand how to change the messaging to meet client needs better.
In conclusion, business intelligence is meaningless without context. Business owners who only depend solely on raw data will hardly move forward. Creating context for your business allows you to get specific insights that will undoubtedly move your business forward. Remember, there is no one-all solution when it comes to contextualization. Investigate different data sources and understand what you want to achieve for your business, and then craft insight that genuinely drives your business growth.
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