Business intelligence and analytics

Ease of use

2009 saw the use of business analytics grow driven by cost cutting measures, in order to optimise their business processes. 2010 is set to see the same amount of growth as businesses aim to beat the crunch.

According to a recent study by IBM, one in three business leaders frequently make critical decisions without the information they need and more than half don't have access to the information across their organisation that they need to do their jobs.

Business analytics enable decisions-makers to uncover new opportunities to use data to predict business outcomes, optimise old systems, and spot trends before they happen. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance.

Business intelligence

Maximising business intelligence (BI) to improve decision making, increase efficiency and productivity is an imperative in today's world. Additionally, the credit crunch and recession created a sense of urgency prompting companies to keep their fingers on the pulse of business and find ways to work faster, smarter and better. It's no surprise that BI and analytics, which provide visibility and insight into business operations, have grown in importance, becoming an important area to watch.

Given the economic realities, effective BI solutions in the coming year will be those that help organisations rapidly tackle specific, immediate business needs without taxing their valuable IT resources. These needs include reducing costs, increasing revenue, eliminating inventory and improving customer satisfaction, Express Computer reports.

"Business intelligence that provides detailed reporting and analysis, made relevant with real-time response, enables forward-thinking organisations to better understand and respond to events, enabling them to perform smarter, and ultimately to gain competitive advantage," said Bashar Kilani, business unit executive at IBM Middle East's software group.

Kilani went on to say, "Whether you're a CEO, CFO, CIO, or CTO, the ability to analyse large volumes of data from multiple sources and to improve decision making at all levels is critical to success."

Companies are learning to reply on business analytics more and more in order to increase decision-making and reduce risks, they're realising they're an important part of their daily decision making, keeping them informed what is going on with their site and becoming a powerful marketing tool.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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