10 Functions of Business Intelligence Tools may be required to assist a company’s operations. As a result, understanding the functions of business intelligence (BI) tools is critical. For your information, a BI tool enables a business to make informed decisions. This signifies that the decision is based on the entire data picture.
10 Functions of a Business Intelligence Tools
A deep understanding of how the firm uses data is required for a successful BI strategy. There are at least four functions of business intelligence tools:
1. Data Collection
We all know that a company has to understand where it can gather data from customers & visitors.
Besides that, a company should understand how it can organize the data into an analyzable form.
2. Data Storage
There are so many data that are relevant to a business and they often come in a large scope. To make it useful, you have to store the data in an accessible stakeholder.
Then, the solution of storage must always be updated. So, a company will be able to act on the changes of data fast.
3. Data Analysis
The BI’s core focuses on diagnostic & descriptive analytics that explain where your business has been as well as why everything is the way it is now.
When it comes to business intelligence tool functions, it must be able to grab from the storage of data to conduct various analyses.
4. Data Reporting
Your data & analyses are useless if they don’t reach the decision maker or other stakeholders.
In addition, a business intelligence must convey insights & data where those who have less context are still able to understand fast & use them for making decisions.
To do these steps, you may need to use multiple products & tools. So, your company will get the business intelligence features and benefits.
5. Data Visualization
One of the key functions of BI tools is to create interactive and visually appealing dashboards, reports, and charts. These tools provide a wide range of visualization options, including bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, maps, and heatmaps, allowing users to present data in a visually understandable format.
6. Ad-Hoc Querying
BI tools enable users to perform ad-hoc queries on the data to explore specific questions or drill down into details. Users can define filters, apply conditions, and retrieve real-time data to perform on-the-fly analysis and gain immediate insights.
7. Advanced Analytics
Many BI tools offer advanced analytical capabilities, including statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and data mining. These features allow organizations to uncover patterns, trends, and correlations within the data, identify outliers, and make predictions or forecasts for future outcomes.
8. Collaboration and Sharing
They allow users to share dashboards, reports, and analysis with colleagues, provide access controls to ensure data security, and enable discussions and annotations to foster collaborative decision-making.
9. Data Governance and Security
They provide mechanisms to enforce data access controls, manage user permissions, and ensure data integrity and compliance with regulatory requirements. Additionally, they offer audit trails and version control to track changes and maintain data quality.
10. Integration with External Systems
BI tools can integrate with external systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, or marketing automation platforms. This integration enables seamless data flow between systems, providing a holistic view of the organization’s operations and performance.