Started guide to Business Intelligence Dashboard
A Brief introduction to Business Intelligence Dashboard
In order to change the way you approach data-driven decision making, you must learn everything to know about business intelligence (BI).
So you have data, but what are you going to do with it? How do you turn data into something usable? We've all asked ourselves this question at some point.
How can you leverage the quantity of data at your disposal to influence decisions? Business intelligence, or BI as it is more frequently known, is a term you have probably heard before. Being more knowledgeable about your business is the literal definition of business intelligence. Additionally, the tools you employ will determine your BI strategy. Data warehouses, dashboards, reports, tools for data discovery, and cloud data services are a few examples of BI technologies. You may draw insights from your data with the help of these tools.
There's no doubt in saying that the Internet of Things (IoT) has altered how the general public accesses data. Data can be accessed with the click of a button. There is data everywhere, whether it's fitness stats from your smartwatch or monthly recurring revenue for a large enterprise business.
Do you or someone you know own a smartwatch or fitness tracker? Simple performance metrics such as daily steps, standing hours, and exercise minutes are tracked by these devices. Consider the following insights from that data: Perhaps you need to increase your step count in order to meet a goal? This information can assist you in making decisions about how you approach fitness.
It is up to you to decide how to use and interpret data (consumer or business), analyze it, and make data-driven decisions. That's business intelligence in action.
The business intelligence software
Business intelligence software, such as dashboards and reports, allows you to extract value from your data. BI tools typically provide contextualized historical and current data to support informed decision-making and prediction development.
To keep up with the rate of change and user demand, the business intelligence industry moves quickly. In fact, 54% of businesses say cloud business intelligence (cloud BI) is critical or very important to their current and future strategies.
Business intelligence brings life in messy data world,. BI is about implementing a strategy to get more value from your data, whether it's data visualization or data warehousing tools. While that may sound intimidating, BI isn't just for enterprise shops with large IT budgets—BI is used to democratize data and provide the most value from it, regardless of size or scope.
Throughout this guide, we will unpack the various aspects of business intelligence. My goal is to keep it simple—no BI phobias here. We'll take a look at:
What is business intelligence software?
Business intelligence consists of tools and technology that are used to analyze, visualize, benchmark, predict, and mine business data in order to make better business decisions. Businesses can use BI technology to analyze current and historical data to gain actionable insights and predictive analysis for business operations.
BI tools may include one or more of the following features:
- Reporting
- Analytics and dashboard creation
- Analytical processing in real time
- Mining of data and processes
- Processing of complex events
- Management of business performance
- Benchmarking
- Analytics for prediction and forecasting
Traditional versus modern business intelligence
Historically, IT was in charge of business intelligence. As a result, reporting and analysis took a top-down approach. Decision makers would have to request an analysis or report from gatekeepers, creating a barrier to real-time reporting and insights.
As functionality and software have evolved, so has ownership. Modern business intelligence is a core business function that is used and owned throughout the organization. One of the primary advantages of modern BI is its accessibility. Users can access and interact with data in real-time, as well as create reports and dashboards almost instantly, removing entry barriers.
Business intelligence now includes the tools, methodologies, and technologies that allow for self examination. Logging in and accessing dashboards, reports, and analytics that transform data points into digestible insights can be as simple as that.
Modern business intelligence will benefit you and your team in the following ways:
- Get answers to important business questions.
- Align activities with the strategy Spend less time on data entry and manipulation.
- Gain detailed, real-time insights into your customers.
- For continuous improvement, compare your data to competitors' and historical data.
- Identify and analyze cost-cutting and budget-allocation opportunities.
- Increase internal productivity by focusing on what matters.
Business intelligence trends in 2024
Let's take a closer look at the BI trends that are gaining traction in 2024.
No-code
The no-code movement enables people who lack technical or data analytics skills to succeed—there is no need for a developer or data analyst! Without writing a single line of code, anyone can import and modify data, as well as visualize, filter, and segment it. We support no-code because it enables everyone to be data-driven.
Analytics on demand
Reporting on business insights is no longer solely the domain of data analysts. Modern BI tools are adaptable and allow for self-service analysis. Instead of creating reports from data stored in spreadsheets and presentation decks, simply log into your BI software and gather the digestible and actionable data you require. You no longer need to be a data analyst or an IT professional to access and design reports.
Lightweight Business intelligence
Traditional business intelligence solutions are frequently complex, inaccessible, and necessitate technical expertise to access information. Lightweight Business intelligence avoids these costs and complexities.
Lightweight Business intelligence is frequently low or no-code, which means you don't need any technical skills. Lightweight Business intelligence is also simple to set up. In a lightweight Business intelligence tool like Dashboard Builder, you can build a dashboard in 2 minutes or less by using its’ drag-and-drop.
Lightweight Business intelligence can also visualize data into charts or filter and segment data with the click of a button, allowing you to fully explore the data. The key to lightweight BI is that it can be used by anyone and be successful.
Data governance
There's no denying that being able to extract insights from data allows you to make better, more informed business decisions. Data governance removes access barriers, allowing everyone to use data to drive strategic decision making.
Data governance is defined by the following principles, according to Data varsity:
- Any digital format is accessible to the average user.
- Non-specialists can gather and analyze data or self-serve without the need for specialized assistance.
- Individual private data must be safeguarded (for example, GDPR and CASL)
- Data quality is essential.
- Augmented analytics, NoSQL, dashboards, and self-service tools (such as the Dashboard Builder!) are key components in empowering non-technical people in data governance.
- Data governance must be guided by data ethics.
How to Choose the Best BI Tool
As stated at the outset of this guide, BI is rapidly evolving to become more accessible and simple for all businesses. Businesses that harness the power of BI undoubtedly have a competitive advantage over those that do not.
Business intelligence empowers your employees just as much as it does your company. Allowing employees to access and track analytical and operational data has been found to improve work efficiency and goals by monitoring real-time efforts alongside a business plan. The power of business intelligence allows your teams to tell their data stories, work faster and smarter, and embrace an open and transparent workplace. It propels your company to the next level.