Intelligent people are running businesses today, so why do we need Business Intelligence solutions? The answer, so our decision makers make more informed decisions. When business intelligence solutions are linked with business goals and objectives, business intelligence tools can be used to support informed decisions.

Executives and managers spend a large portion of their day in meetings and reviewing reports so they can direct the use of resources. Thus, incremental resource decisions are made and they eventually impact results. Unfortunately, the link between those decisions and the results can be difficult to determine.

One way to link decisions with results is through Business Intelligence tools. These tools include enterprise reporting, metrics management, and data mining with the results available to decision makers available through dash boards. These tools make it possible to track the results on a near-real-time basis with direct links between input decisions to output results.

These tools can be used to answer many questions including:

Once the tools are implemented, the most valuable aspect of business intelligence becomes apparent. Decision makers move from hearing about results in meetings to reviewing results and actively conducting analysis into the underlying issues that are impacting results. Issues change from who has the right number to how the numbers can be improved.

Business Intelligence can be used by everyone in an organization to better understand how what they do impacts the organization and what they can do to improve the results. In the end, it helps achieve alignment between strategy and execution to better achieve the intended results.