In the course of events, a typical business generates a tremendous amount of data. This data may be in incomprehensible or unrecognizable forms. Business data is a source of information about the inner workings of a particular company. Leveraging this data towards greater performance and profitability is the key to success. Business intelligence (BI) allows companies to gather, analyze and harness this data. Business intelligence refers to a collection of software programs that collect and organize business data. Analyzing business data is done by the programs themselves and by their human operators. Simply gathering the data and putting it together can be trans-formative.
The great advantage of BI is the democratization of data interpretation. Any employee can dig into the data and come up with a solution to a particular problem. Analyzing business data can often turn management's picture of an enterprise upside down. Inefficient processes and production lines can quickly be identified and changed based on the analysis. Business software can reveal hidden danger zones that the naked eye may miss. As the common saying goes, numbers do not lie, and business software uses these numbers to reveal the truth.
Knowledge management is an essential part of BI. The tremendous amount of data gathered can prove overwhelming. Managers and employees do not know where to start. Knowledge management helps them discriminate between different data elements and discover the context within which problems and solutions reveal themselves. BI takes the hidden, invisible aspects of business and makes them visible to all.