The first recorded instance of the phrase “business intelligence” (BI) dates back to the 1865 publication of the Cyclopaedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes. In other words, there’s really nothing inherently new about business intelligence.
However, the way it’s now being paired with technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate business intelligence reporting is new. And, it makes data analysis accessible to just about everyone on the organizational chart.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some real world uses for BI reporting.
What is BI Reporting?
In a nutshell, it’s a tool for deciphering the hidden insights buried within the mountains of data accumulated by businesses everyday. BI systems are capable of combing through raw statistical insights and comprehending the trends behind them to inform various operations including sales, marketing, customer service, administration and production.
Coca Cola Bottling Company
Using BI reporting to democratize data made it readily accessible to the bottler’s sales and delivery team in near real time. Moreover, automating its data crunching processes resulted in quoted time savings of more than 260 hours annually. Mobile dashboards powered by BI tools put real-time data in the hands of the sales force, which gave them access to timely and actionable information with which to sweeten their pitches.
Bugcrowd Cybersecurity
Holding on to existing customers is far less costly than coaxing new ones into the fold. Charito used BI reporting to get a better handle on its customer base to determine what it needed to do to keep them happy with the service it provides.
Centralizing its interaction data and using BI tools to examine different aspects of their customer contacts made identifying trends and gleaning insights easier to accomplish. This, in turn, enhanced the operations of all its teams including customer support and engineering. The consequence was a “high touch” approach to marketing and customer service that resulted in a higher rate of customer retention, as well as easing the acquisition of new clients.
Starbucks
Mining individualized purchase data has proven highly effective for the specialty drink retailer. Starbucks can predict what purchases its Loyalty Card Program customers are likely to make, create personalized offers based upon those predictions and inform Loyalty customers of specifically tailored deals via their mobile devices. This brings those patrons back into the stores more often and they tend to buy more per visit.
Des Moines Public Schools
The DMPS board used BI reporting to get a handle on the signs its students are likely to drop out of high school. Data visualization tools made it easy for the faculty members to decipher the information in order to identify at-risk pupils and funnel them into programs to get them the help they needed. Over 7,000 teachers had access to real time data, which enabled them to also adapt their approaches to these kids based upon the provided insights and intervene before their problems became insurmountable.
These four examples of real world uses for BI reporting exemplify its power in practical applications. Moreover, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the situations to which these platforms can be applied. With the insights, detailed reports and intuitive visualizations BI tools are capable of providing, optimization of any data driven situation is now possible.
Even better, advances in the technology have eliminated the need for IT specialists to run reports, aggregate data and return findings. This has truly democratized data, and as you’ve seen here, made it more useful than ever before.