How do you define Business Intelligence?
For the last few years, I've been working with businesses across North America, as part of Business Intelligence (BI) projects and deployments. And yet I have always struggled to concisely explain just what BI is. But I think I'm getting close.
Business Intelligence is a great addition to the technology lexicon - it makes those of us involved in setting up this stuff feel like we're doing something new and revolutionary! But the simple truth is that Business Intelligence isn't really new; it's really just about something we chose to ignore.
Anyone can make a decision. But to make a good decision, we really want/need information. GOOD information. Timely, relevant information. And that's what BI is all about. Information.
So when someone asks me what I do, from now on my answer is going to be that I solve information problems. It doesn't sound so pretentious, and I think it's pretty accurate.
