A simple business intelligence definition includes the processes, architecture and technologies which allow for the transformation of raw data into meaningful and useful information. Today’s business intelligence tools are capable of handling large amounts of information which can be analyzed and manipulated by decision makers to identify opportunities for increased efficiencies, cost-savings and profitability.
Business intelligence is used by small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), large enterprises, non-profits and government agencies. Business intelligence is beneficial to numerous verticals including: healthcare, financial, manufacturing, information technology (IT), software, retail and more. Our background is in the healthcare and financial industries but our business intelligence solutions can be customized for any vertical.
Business intelligence provides historical, current and predictive views of your business operations. Without a doubt this is the most useful tool that you could ever deploy within your business. It allows you to analyze the potential impacts of making decisions before they occur. The data is fully customizable and mapped to your requirements. This allows you to get as granular as possible – from an individual product to an employee, department, business unit or the entire company. Gain visibility to your business operations like never before. Did we mention that this is all available in real time? Business intelligence is changing the landscape for executives and key management personnel. It’s even been used in evaluating individual stock and portfolio performance.
Here is an overly simplified example of business intelligence in the healthcare industry. With business intelligence you could theoretically examine the performance of an individual physician, department, hospital, hospital network or the entire business. You could analyze the profitability of each physician as it relates to the number of visits, time spent per visit, diagnosis, billing and reimbursement. You could review YTD performance of various departments such as cardiology or maternity. Are trends are emerging? What can be done to increase performance or a specific department? You can also look at the bigger picture. How is the overall business performing? In today’s business climate, it’s all about being proactive and responding quickly to opportunities while minimizing threats. Business intelligence does exactly that.
