The purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of the role that business intelligence can play in the effective administration of an entrepreneurial adventure. In the briefest manner possible, I will attempt to explore some of the broader themes that run through this concept.

Many business people will know their bottom line. Occasionally this is just a case of instinct and talents. Alternative the director may have to attend a course or undertake significant management training to acquire these skills. A good manager will understand exactly how and when to maximize their business profits. Some might even have a very sophisticated outlook on things such as human resource management, contracting and cost based pricing. However the total sum of all the information that a business needs to functional decisions is called business intelligence.

Unfortunately in the current world of fast technology and extreme deadlines, there can be a tendency to ignore or even de-prioritize the business intelligence aspect of an organization’s general fabric. This is really about knowing your market, who and what you are up against as well as the ramifications of some of the decisions you make or choose not to make.

Admittedly it is a tedious process of research and may require a dedicated in-house or external provider to look at the data. There also needs to be a mechanism for storing and sharing the information that has been obtained. However economies of scale and the resultant structural efficiencies will normally offset some of the bureaucratic baggage that comes with some of these high end concepts.

For the prudent manager, technology will play an invaluable role in increasing the speed with which the relevant information can be gathered as well as the accuracy and relevancy of that information. Technology can also be used to disseminate the information and lessons learned in a bespoke way to each unit depending on their own specific requirements. Furthermore the idea of using technological tools will be particularly effective if, as is the case in most instances, the budgets for the business intelligence team are derived from strategic rather than project specific funds.

In conclusion for those organizations that intend to make business intelligence a reality for their day to day activities, it will be important to sell the concept to the key stakeholders such as decisions makers and end users. Resistance will be limited if the people on the frontline can see the results and positive impacts of some of the decisions based on business intelligence. In fact the failure to gain awareness about the issues raised may lead the business to close down due to bad results. I would go as far as arguing that the understanding and use of business intelligence is an essential aspect of a modern business.

This is more so the case when that planning has to integrate strategic objectives with operational objectives as well as paid due attention financial frameworks. In this article the practical ramifications of business intelligence are shown to impact greatly on the final plans of an organization.

A well thought-out integrated business plan will need to account for the true impact of business decisions as well as making predictions about future outcomes based on the availability of reasonably accurate information. The idea of integration will necessary mean that the various drivers of business growth will have to be individually quantified and then joined together to form a business story which in turn becomes the business plan. Good business intelligence will make this process relatively fast, consistent and effective. Some might go further and argue that without business intelligence, business planning is virtually meaningless.

The technological advancements in business intelligence systems have enabled business planners to construct complex mathematical scenario and quantify previously unquantifiable variants. This has led to an almost symbiotic relationship whereby the development of one element ultimately leads to the re-development of another equivalent element. It therefore goes without saying that the better the business intelligence, the better the planning outcomes.

Integrated business planning also presents some further challenges for business intelligence. For example the modules will need to cater for speculative questions, simulation of probable scenarios, and the demand to bespoke ratio quotients, sensitivity capabilities, infeasibility models and the complex issues of opportunity costs. This means that the business intelligence system has to constantly evolve in reflection of the complexity of modern planning systems. In some of these areas human participation is mandatory if any meaningful results are to be achieved.

Notwithstanding these challenges, business intelligence has continued to provide a useful conduit for the ambitions of business planners throughout the business world. In particular it has been the underlying business information system in terms of providing forums of interdepartmental working, generating performance management systems, opening up relational analysis and improving the effectiveness of line managers.

Is there a tension between fast business planning and detailed business intelligence ?  There could be a tension if key planners do not understand the utmost importance of having accurate data in order to facilitate planning. In any case it can be argued that the process of multi dimensional planning requires similar, if not identical, networks of research to deliver results. Without the ability to gather information from some of the remotest sectors of the business, any planning has only superficial meaning and will not go to the root issues that are affecting the company. This is as true for the for-profit sector as it is for the non-profit organization.

By the year 1990, computer technologies were introduced which led to an improvement in the Business Intelligence. Customer relationship management also went through an improvement and advanced techniques of management, along with new technology, improved the reporting, analysis and planning in businesses. These latest development led to an integrated methodology termed as Business Performance Management. Basically, it is a holistic approach towards strategic planning.

Gartner research introduced the entire concept of Business Performance Management in the year 2001, which is also known as Corporate Performance Management at times. Business Performance Management describes the methodologies, systems, processes and metrics required for the management of performance in an organization. Some of the major characteristics of Business Performance Management are complete integration, support of collaboration, automated processing of data, focus on exceptions and analytical insight.

Before the Information Age of 20^th century, companies had to collect data from several non-automated resources, which was quite troublesome and time consuming. In the lack of computing resource for analyzing the data properly, most of the commercial decisions were made on the basis of pure intuition. As companies started automating their systems, an increased number of data started becoming available. However, it was difficult to collect data because of shortage of infrastructure meant for data exchange or because of incompatibilities between the systems. Generation of data even took months, leading to long term strategic planning and decision making. However, short term decisions yet needed to be taken on intuition.

Because of increasing standards, technologies and automated systems, vast amounts of data started becoming available. Improved Enterprise Application Integration tools also increased the speed to collecting data. Business Intelligence became an art to sieve through huge amounts of data, taking out useful data from it and turning that data into knowledge on which needed action could be taken.

Business Performance Management or Corporate Performance Management or Enterprise Performance Management have same meanings, which means that they are synonyms. All of them have proved to be extremely helpful in improving the business performance of an enterprise, including its management, employees, workers, customers and clients.

Through this type of analysis of the current and updated data, an enterprise is able to improve its ability of decision making. Business Intelligence is a discipline which comprises of several related activities including data mining, decision support, reporting and querying, online analytical processing, forecasting and statistical analysis.

The prospects of a business’s success improve manifolds as through this information, the businesses become capable of gaining a lot of advantage over their competitors. Once a company is powered with Business Intelligence, it gains the ability to anticipate increased turnaround time on collection of data. It also comes up with new ideas for new business initiatives, it can now foresee the accurate picture of demands from its customer base and it becomes able to perform its marketing campaigns in a more targeted manner.

In addition to all this, the company also gains enhanced knowledge which will be helpful in making advancements in its market share, cutting down its customer churn, diminishing delays in its supply chain and reducing its overheads.

Without Business Intelligence, a company is obliged to make its important decisions based purely on the gut feeling of the entrepreneurs. But with the information available through Business Intelligence, the company becomes able to make a fact based decision which increases the company’s prospects to success. Furthermore, Business Intelligence makes a company agile, thereby providing it an edge of competition in the evolving market conditions of present age.

Most of the companies have to collect large amounts of data to carry out their business operations. In order to keep this information under track, it will need to use several software programs like Access, Excel and other database applications for different departments of their organization.

Using several software programs is quite difficult, especially if you need to retrieve some information immediately. In the aspect of growing needs for corporate to go boundaryless in today worldwide interaction, web based conferencing technology or teleconferencing facilities has been deployed to enhance smoothness in information exchange.

The term Business Intelligence represents the systems and tools that play a major role in strategic planning processes of a company. Generally, these systems and tools illustrate Business Intelligence in areas of customer support, customer profiling, market research, product profitability, market segmentation and analysis of distribution and inventory. With all these aspects of Business Intelligence, it increases the prospects of a company’s success manifolds.