Business intelligence, like data analytics, have become buzz words in today’s workplace. But very few truly understand how to leverage business intelligence as a strategic tool. Raquel Seville of BI Brainz is of the view that every organisation should be applying business intelligence. She gives us a primer on the topic, and shares some advice to help small, through to large enterprises, better integrate and leverage business intelligence in their organisations.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes and on Stitcher!

Although many of us were not great at Mathematics whilst at school, in the workplace, we all tend to love graphs and appreciate the importance of statistics to support the decisions that must be made. To that end, there can be an expectation in organisations, and among managers and senior personnel in particular, that data which can substantiate or refute claims that have been made, is readily available.

However, relatively few organisations have put the requisite systems and resources in place. As a result, managers and decision makers tend to rely on, among other things, gut instincts, third party and anecdotal information.

Data, in and of itself, has little value – unless it is processed and analysed. However, the manner in which data is processed and subsequently analysed can lead to vastly different results. In light of the volumes of data that are currently being generated, fields, such as data analytics, have emerged as one of the most in demand areas globally for expertise.

There is a wealth of information that resides within organisations, which if mined and analysed could provide important insights an organisation and its leaders. However, many entities are of the view that those efforts – the field of business intelligence – is applicable to large organisations that have the needed manpower and the funds at their disposal.

Raquel Seville

Our guest for this episode is a business intelligence expert, a published author and an international speaker, with over decade of experience in the field. Raquel Seville is the CEO for the Caribbean region for BI Brainz, a business intelligence and analytics consulting and solutions company, headquartered in the US, but with offices in Jamaica, which Raquel heads, the UK, and South Africa.

This discussion with Raquel can be considered a primer on business intelligence. We asked some basic questions on the subject, and sought some advice to help large enterprises, small businesses, and everything in between, to get a firmer footing on the business intelligence path:

  1. What is business intelligence?
  2. How is business intelligence different from data analytics?
  3. How is business intelligence different from market intelligence?
  4. Are there any predefined/standard metrics or measures that a business intelligence exercise must include?
  5. Are there any constraints or limitations in the types of organisations that could should apply business intelligence?
  6. What might be some of the misconceptions people have about business intelligence?
  7. To what degree is an organisation’s operating environment considered in a business intelligence exercise?
  8. What are some of important skills that individuals who work in business intelligence must possess?
  9. For organisations that want to begin to rely on business intelligence, what are some of the first set of questions they should be asking themselves?
  10. For micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), what might be some basic things they can do, or tools they can use, in order to begin to tap into the benefits of business intelligence?

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  qimono (Pixabay);  R Seville

Music Credit:  Ray Holman