Business Intelligence

If the organization has superior intelligence, then it should, by definition have a competitive advantage over its competitors.

Intelligence has been defined as the art of knowing one's enemies. Business Intelligence is about the collection of data and other information to provide decision-support to the organization.

Business Intelligence software enables analysts, managers and staff to acquire useful insights that can be applied to decision-making processes. The broad spectrum that comprises Business Intelligence includes decision support systems, query and reporting, on-line analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analysis, forecasting, data mining, text searching, and text mining. Together, these components allow the organization to determine its position.

But as with military intelligence, business intelligence requires an outward focus. It is not enough to have the information on the organizations performance, but for competitive advantage the organization must be aware of its competitors performance.

Therefore external data such as government statistics, market share, pricing strategies and acquisitions all form part of the business intelligence landscape.

Wave assists organizations to not only gain control of internal information to enable the measurement of performance against plan, but to bring in external data to provide a context for performance against competitors.

Highly competitive environments such as health, insurance, fast moving consumer goods, electronics, automotive, banking, telecommunications and financial services are clear examples of why Business Intelligence is critical to not only maintaining competitive position but competitive advantage.

 
"Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless."

HG Wells

'The Time Machine'.