Qu'est-ce que la business intelligence et ses avantages ?

What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

Business Intelligence encompasses a set of tools, technologies, applications, and methods that allow the company to perform data analysis. Today, companies are aware of the importance of data analysis in their strategy. In order to learn all the ins and outs of BI, IPAG Business School offers distance learning degree courses and distance learning masters courses.

Definition of Business Intelligence (BI)

Business Intelligence is a process of data analysis used by executives and managers to improve the steering of their activity and their decision making.

Companies rely on business intelligence systems to extract and analyse large volumes of data stored in data warehouses or data marts. BI tools are used to convert this data into actionable information.

What are the benefits of Business Intelligence in business?

The application of BI brings many benefits to a company, including the rapid acquisition of an overview of processes. Data visualisation tools provide key performance indicators (KPIs) that are useful for optimising certain internal processes in order to improve products or services.

By providing relevant information in real time, BI can speed up decision-making processes; as a result, inefficiencies are identified and addressed more quickly. A company can leverage BI to identify performance, areas for improvement and market trends to optimise business strategies and generate new revenue.

Business Intelligence is also useful as a common reference tool for all levels of an organisation. A BI solution is configured to allow various users to query and report from dashboards. Used by managers and employees, BI tools ensure that data is standardised, allowing better understanding by all employees.

It is able to anticipate customer and market needs through predictive analysis. With the application of BI, the company can predict the success of its decisions, which represents a strong competitive advantage.

What are the areas of application of Business Intelligence?

Business Intelligence was originally focused on the accounting and financial field, which processed a large amount of data. With the advent of Big Data, it has gradually been extended to other areas of the business to support better decision making in the business verticals.

BI systems can be applied to customer relationship management, sales force management, supply chain management and human resources. There are even ready-made libraries of indicators that are developed to monitor these different activities.

How to implement Business Intelligence in a company?

There are four steps to implementing a BI solution in a company to transform data into relevant information that can be used for decision-making purposes.

The first step is to identify the data source(s) to be collected.

Next, there is the implementation of an extraction tool called ETL (Extract, Transform, Load). It enables the raw data to be retrieved from the various sources in the company, sorted and transformed so that it is ready for use in decision-making.

The third stage is data storage. This involves centralising all the processed data in databases.

Finally, the last step is the restitution of the data. With the help of data visualisation tools, the data is brought back in the form of reports and dashboards. The information is then presented in a usable form, ready to be analysed by decision-makers and data specialists.

How to train in Business Intelligence?

To become an expert in Business Intelligence, there are many analytical training courses that allow you to access the professions of data scientist, data miner, BI consultant or even project manager in business intelligence.

To train in BI, IPAG offers a Master of Science in Digital Transformation Management. This master's degree is composed of 5 blocks training various skills in Business Intelligence, data governance, analytics, innovation strategy and design thinking. These specific modules can be used to obtain a professional title (RNCP Project Manager) or a Master of Science.

BI is a complex field that relies on numerous technologies related to data analysis, data science and data engineering. A real decision-making tool, BI is a major asset for large companies. In order to succeed in a Business Intelligence project, the deployment requires employees who are competent in the field in order to better understand it. IPAG's online training courses are accessible to both young graduates and professionals. To train in Business Intelligence in good conditions, IPAG gives you its advice on how to organise yourself for distance learning.