7 signs your enterprise is ready for business intelligence

Put yourself in the shoes of a worn-down, overwhelmed business owner. Your sales are slipping, customers are unhappy, and you’re pretty sure your competition is about to outpace you. You need help, but you’re not quite sure where to turn.

When the path ahead seems dark, it can help to look for signs that lead the way. Fortunately, the data that businesses generate every day can offer some guidance when it comes to finding a solution to stalled growth.

With business intelligence, even the smallest data sets can be turned into actionable insights that help businesses make smarter decisions to improve performance.

In this article, we will break down seven signs that your enterprise is ready for business intelligence—and how you can use it to start moving in the right direction.

1. You’re not using data to make decisions properly (or at all)

If your business isn’t using data to inform its decisions, you’re already falling behind.

In today’s data-driven world, businesses that don’t leverage data are at a serious competitive disadvantage. By not using data, businesses are missing out on key insights that could help them make better decisions.

Data is essential for ensuring that businesses are making decisions based on facts. Without data, businesses are left to rely on intuition and gut feeling—which can often be wrong.

So how does business intelligence utilize data in systems? Data is gathered from a variety of sources, both internal and external. This data is then cleansed, transformed, and loaded into a data warehouse. From there, it can be accessed and analyzed to generate insights that help inform business decisions.

2. Data is spread ineffectively across multiple departments

Businesses that are ready for business intelligence have data spread across multiple departments. This data is often siloed, making it difficult to get a complete picture of what’s going on within the organization as a whole.

With BI, businesses can break down these silos and get a complete view of their data. This 360-degree view of the data allows businesses to see patterns and trends that they wouldn’t be able to see with department-level data alone.

For example, a business might notice that its sales are slipping. However, when they look at the data, they might see that this is due to a decrease in customer satisfaction rather than disinterest in the product.

If you can’t get a complete view of your data, you’re not able to make fully informed decisions. Business intelligence can help you break down the silos in your data and get the insights you need to make better decisions.

3. Your competition is outpacing you in multiple areas

If your competition is outpacing you, it might be time to start using business intelligence. When used correctly, BI can give businesses a competitive edge.

Business intelligence can help businesses identify areas where they need to improve and make changes to their strategy. For example, if your competition is outperforming you in digital marketing, you can use BI to find out why and make changes to your own digital marketing strategy.

You can also use BI to track your competitor’s movements and react quickly to changes in the market. By being proactive, you can stay one step ahead of your competition and maintain a competitive advantage.

4. Your employee’s productivity is mysteriously slipping

When business intelligence is used correctly, it can help employees be more productive. With BI, employees have access to the data they need to do their job without having to search for it.

For example, a sales representative can use BI to quickly find out how many units of a product are in stock. They can also use BI to find out which products are selling well and which ones aren’t. This information helps them make better decisions about which products to sell and how to sell them.

In addition, BI can automate repetitive tasks that take up employees’ time. For example, if you get a lot of support requests, you can use BI to create a report that shows the most common problems. This report can then be used to create a knowledge base that employees can refer to when they need help.

By automating repetitive tasks and giving employees access to the data they need, business intelligence can help employees be more productive.

5. You’re missing out on unique market opportunities

Finding unique market opportunities is essential for businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition. Business intelligence can help businesses find these opportunities and capitalize on them.

For example, let’s say you sell products online. You can use BI to track your website traffic and see which products are being viewed the most. If you notice that a particular product is being viewed more than others, you might want to consider selling it in your brick-and-mortar store.

You can also use BI to track your competitors’ prices and adjust your own prices accordingly. By tracking market trends, you can identify opportunities to improve your pricing strategy and increase your profits.

6. Your management skills are high, but results are low

If your management is high but your results are low, you may benefit from increased BI analytics.

Business leaders commonly use BI to build dashboards displaying key performance indicators (KPIs) and other performance metrics. With these tools, you can track your progress and identify areas where you need to improve.

For example, let’s say you want to increase sales by 10% this year. You can use BI to track your sales data and see how close you are to your goal. If you’re not on track, you can make changes to your strategy and see how those changes impact your results.

By tracking your progress and identifying areas for improvement, business intelligence can help you achieve your goals.

7. You’re losing customers unexpectedly

If you’re losing customers, it might be time to start using business intelligence.

With BI tools, you can track customer behavior and identify trends. For example, let’s say you sell products online. You can use BI to track which products are being viewed, added to the cart, and purchased.

You can also use BI to track customer satisfaction. If you notice that a lot of customers are leaving negative reviews, you can use BI to find out why and make changes to your product or service.

By tracking customer behavior and satisfaction, business intelligence can help you keep your customers happy.

The bottom line

Business intelligence can help your business in many ways. If you’re looking to improve your decision-making, increase sales, or gain a competitive edge, BI might be right for you.

You don’t have to be a massive enterprise or have a big budget to benefit from business intelligence. Start small and see how BI can help you achieve your goals. With the right BI tools being used strategically across all departments of your business, you can change the way you do business for the better.