{"id":3102,"date":"2019-09-16T16:22:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T21:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/?p=3102"},"modified":"2019-09-16T16:22:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T21:22:40","slug":"5-key-benefits-of-business-intelligence-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stratospherenetworks.com\/blog\/5-key-benefits-of-business-intelligence-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Key Benefits of Business Intelligence Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Business<\/a>We\u2019re living in an era in which we have access to more data from a wider range of sources than ever before, due to the Internet of Things<\/a> and other technological advancements. The whole digital universe is expected to balloon to 44 zettabytes by 2020, according to the World Economic Forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This obviously gives businesses the opportunity to gain unprecedented insight into performance, operations, and consumer behavior and preferences. However, given the sheer volume of data already dealing with, figuring out how to properly process and leverage it<\/a> is a major challenge.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where business intelligence (BI) solutions<\/a> come in and can make a big difference. As the amount of data available has exploded, many organizations have turned to BI software to help them make sense of it and get the most out of it. In 2018, the analytics and BI software market grew by 11.7 percent to reach $21.6 billion, with modern BI platforms as the fastest-growing segment, according to Gartner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re considering implementing BI software to help your organization perform better, here\u2019s everything you should know about what these types of solutions are, how they work, and the key benefits of using business intelligence tools.<\/p>\n

Understanding BI Tools: What BI Solutions Are and How They Function<\/h2>\n

BI as a general concept<\/a> includes applications, tools and technologies that collect and analyze data relevant to business operations to drive better decision-making. BI tools are capable of taking in significant amounts of unstructured data from both internal and external systems and can help prepare that information for analysis and transformation into visualizations, reports and dashboards, according to Microsoft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that BI tools are distinct from business analytics (BA) applications, Salesforce states<\/a>. The essential difference is that BI tools look at what happened in the past as well as what\u2019s happening right now. Meanwhile, BA leverages data mining, statistical analysis, and quantitative analysis to identify past business trends as well as predict what will happen in the future. If you want to get as much value as possible from the data you collect, it makes sense to use both BI and BA solutions.<\/p>\n

There are various kinds of BI solutions and functionalities out there, including the following. Please keep in mind that this isn\u2019t an exhaustive list.<\/p>\n