Business Intelligence - Essay Example

Additionally, the applications of business intelligence contain the tasks of query and reporting, decision support systems, statistical analysis, online analytical processing (OLAP), forecasting, and data mining (Webopedia, 2011) and (Rossetti, 2006). This paper provides the answers of questions like that why or why not business intelligence is critical for organizations? This paper will outline the issues and challenges that organizations can face in implementing BI. This paper will also discuss the difference between knowledge management and BI.

Business Intelligence: A tool for organization’s survival Business intelligence tools have become one of the most important organizations’ resources. Additionally, these tools are utilized in data mining and operations. In this scenario, operational business intelligence is utilized to run the business activities more competently and achieve maximum return on investment. Thus, business intelligence methods and tools facilitate the organizations in making efficient use of assets, cutting costs, and making use of all the business prospects.

On the other hand, in data mining, business intelligence is used to leverage enormous quantities of data for determining the best performance areas or out-of-the-box investigations. This kind of solutions could be easy or complex, however depending on the BI tool utilized. In addition, business intelligence tools help the organizations to gain a competitive edge because of their dashboard capabilities. Moreover, an organization must recognize that BI is not simply a charting or visual display of data.

However, they can be helpful when an organization wants to incorporates data from numerous sources (D'Souza, 2011). Challenges in implementing business intelligence While adopting BI technology for their business an organization can face following challenges: (Computerworld Custom Publishing, 2003) and (MAIA Intelligence Blog, 2011) Failure to distinguish BI systems and projects as cross-organizational company initiatives, as well as considering them different from distinctive standalone solutions.

Unengaged company sponsors (or sponsors who take pleasure in small or no authority in the corporation). Engaged or reluctant business representatives. Lack of capable as well as existing staff, or sub-optimal staff use No software release idea (having no enhanced and improved iterative development technique). No use of WBS (work breakdown structure) and no methodology for application of the new BI technology. No company analysis or unavailability of standardization actions for the BI technology application.

No approval of the influence of dirty data on business productivity. Not recognizing the need and utilization of meta-data. Extra dependence on disparate techniques and tools BI is difference from Knowledge Management Normally, knowledge management is referred as a methodical procedure of discovering, selecting, classifying distilling and presenting data and information in a form that is easy to understand for an employee and lies in a precise area of interest. Additionally, the specific knowledge management tasks facilitate organizations to pay their attention on storing, acquiring and utilizing knowledge for similar things such as problem solving, strategic planning, dynamic learning and decision making (Herschel, 2008).

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