From Using Excel to Reading Business Intelligence Reports

Keeping records of sales, expenses, inventory, customers, projections, or any other activity involving data in Excel, to monitor, analyze, or evaluate some aspect of a business, with the aim of interpreting this data into knowledge and understanding that allows for fact-based business decisions, is performing data analysis: anyone who uses business data to extract information to understand a particular business situation is doing data analysis.

The most advanced and systematic level of this analytical procedure is what is called business intelligence (BI).

A Natural Evolution

Excel is an excellent tool; however, it has defined limits that condition the possibilities of capturing, visualizing, and analyzing data. The inability to access real-time data stored in different devices or locations with varying formats and the limitations in visualization tools mean that Excel restricts the ability to have a truthful, clear, and complete view of the business, narrowing down the types of investigations that can be conducted with a spreadsheet, and consequently the answers that can be obtained.

Business intelligence is a collection of processes and tools that expand and optimize the collection and analysis of data from multiple sources within an organization, in order to convert them into useful information for a deeper and more detailed view of the business, taking into account its unique and specific characteristics.

Interacting with Dynamic Reports, Instead of Handling Cells and Formulas

The difference between using management software or Excel and business intelligence lies in the way information is interacted with.

Instead of manipulating elements or relying on pre-established functions and charts, business intelligence provides access to custom-built reports that answer specific questions.

Reading customized reports is faster, more direct, and more effective than navigating through a spreadsheet, and the ability to activate filters for selections or comparisons allows for deeper analysis.

With business intelligence, data is presented in a visually clear and compelling manner, ready to be converted into useful and strategic information.

Asking to Understand

The goal of business intelligence is to provide the information that the user needs to find answers.

This means that the first step to implementing business intelligence is to define a specific question or hypothesis about the reality of the business.

Next, a specialized business intelligence technician organizes the data, configures the data capture system, and crafts the personalized report tailored to the initial question.

The user utilizes the report to access the information that helps answer their question.

Business intelligence is scalable with the needs of the user or the business, allowing reports to be molded in response to new questions or hypotheses.

Find Your Answers

If you want to implement business intelligence solutions in your business, get in touch with us.