What is business intelligence (BI)?
Business Intelligence (BI) refers to the technology-supported collection, structuring, analysis, and visualization of business data – with the aim of turning complex and unstructured volumes of data into clear, reliable insights for data-driven decision-making. BI combines technologies, methods, and strategies into an end-to-end process, from the raw data source to decision-ready information.
| Feature | Details |
| Category | Data Analysis / Management Control / Technology |
| Application | Systematic analysis, planning, and reporting based on business data |
| Typical areas of application | Controlling, Financial Planning, Sales, Procurement, management reporting |
| Related terms | Business Analytics, Data Warehouse, OLAP, KPI, ETL, Data Visualization, Predictive Analytics |
| Benefits | Informed decision-making, early identification of trends, increased efficiency, transparency into company performance |
At a galnce
transforms raw data into actionable insights
presents results in a visual and easy-to-understand way – in dashboards, reports, and KPI overviews
saves time, identifies trends at an early stage, and enables in-depth comparisons and analyses
modern BI solutions increasingly use automation, self-service capabilities, and artificial intelligence
Table of contents
Business intelligence definition
As data volumes continue to grow, Business intelligence (BI) has become an almost indispensable tool for companies. Business intelligence encompasses all technologies, methods, and strategies that companies use to systematically collect, structure, analyze, and transform their internal and external data into actionable information. BI tools transform this information into meaningful reports, dashboards, and key figures.
The goal is not merely to process data technically, but above all to create a transparent basis for decision-making. Business intelligence aims to identify trends at an early stage and turn complex and unstructured volumes of data into clear, reliable insights that help executives, controllers, analysts, and operational teams act more quickly and make better-informed decisions. Modern BI solutions increasingly make use of automated analyses, self-service capabilities, and artificial intelligence.
How does business intelligence work?
BI is a multi-stage process that transforms raw data into actionable insights to support companies in their decision-making.
- Data acquisition and integration (ETL): BI tools extract structured and unstructured data from various sources, transform it, and load it into a central system – a process known as ETL (Extract, Transform, Load).
- Data storage (data warehouse): The processed data is stored in a Data Warehouse, which serves as a central repository. Data warehouses often use OLAP engines to enable complex, multidimensional queries and in-depth analyses.
- Analysis and pattern recognition: Data Mining and statistical analyses are used to uncover trends, patterns, and anomalies. BI tools such as DeltaMaster perform both descriptive and predictive analyses to understand the current state and forecast future developments.
- Visualization and reporting: The results of the analyses are converted into easy-to-understand formats: interactive dashboards, charts, graphical tables, and KPI overviews. These visualizations enable decision-makers to quickly grasp the most important insights.
- Decision support: Based on the processed information, data-driven decisions can be made, changes can be identified in real time, and strategic adjustments can be implemented.
Benefits of business intelligence: What are the advantages of BI?
Business Intelligence offers numerous benefits to companies by optimizing the use of data across various business areas. Some of the key benefits of BI include:
Efficient decision-making: Business Intelligence solutions help companies quickly and easily integrate, analyze, and visualize data from different sources in order to make informed decisions.
Accessibility for all users: Business Intelligence systems also enable non-technical users to access a wide range of reports and analyses.
Trend and issue detection: Intelligent BI systems and data visualization methods make trends, anomalies, and problems immediately apparent. This allows new business opportunities to be identified quickly.
Customer satisfaction and retention: BI tools provide a quick overview of customer behavior and purchasing patterns, enabling companies to better understand customer needs and create more targeted offers to increase customer satisfaction and retention.
Performance measurement and benchmarking: BI enables companies to continuously measure and track performance and to establish benchmarks based on data.
Competitive advantages and growth: The insights gained through BI can contribute to significant performance improvements, thereby helping companies secure competitive advantages and achieve long-term growth.
Time and effort savings: By automating processes with BI tools, employees can focus on strategic initiatives instead of manual routine work.
Clarity regarding performance indicators: Business Intelligence software provides a clear overview of all key performance indicators (KPIs) of the company.
These diverse benefits of Business intelligence can be achieved with Business Intelligence software such as DeltaMaster. The automated and standardized tool for analysis, planning, and reporting helps companies immediately grasp important insights at a glance through intelligent data visualization. This enables companies to respond quickly to changes and make informed decisions. In addition, the intuitive user interface allows both beginners and experienced users to work efficiently with the software.
Typical use cases
Business intelligence is applied in virtually all areas of a company:
In sales, executives can see at a glance where targets are not being met and use drill-down to analyze variances by region, product group, or customer.
In the finance department, BI-supported scenario analyses are used to assess the impact of changes to plans on earnings, liquidity, and balance sheet KPIs.
In controlling, forecasts are automatically generated based on current actual figures and presented consistently alongside key management metrics.
In procurement, price developments and supplier performance are analyzed to identify cost-saving potential and bottlenecks.
In management, BI systems visualize leading indicators, flag variances, and make areas requiring action immediately visible.
Business intelligence and Bissantz
DeltaMaster by Bissantz is a BI solution that seamlessly combines analysis, planning, and reporting in a single system and is equipped with AI capabilities. What sets it apart is that, rather than merely displaying data, DeltaMaster automatically derives insights and recommendations for action from the figures. Variances are automatically detected and highlighted, key figures are intelligently consolidated, and visualizations are selected automatically – for maximum informative value with minimal effort.
Thanks to standardized reporting logic, extensive integration with common source systems, and its unique KPI logic, DeltaMaster is suitable for all decision-makers – from business departments to executive management. Companies benefit from a consistent view of their numbers, a high degree of automation, and well-founded insights for better decisions.
FAQ – frequently asked questions
Businessintelligence refers to the technology-supported collection, analysis, and visualization of business data – with the aim of gaining clear, decision-relevant insights from large volumes of data. BI helps companies act more quickly and make better-informed decisions.
BI follows a multi-stage process: data is extracted from source systems (ETL), stored in a Data Warehouse, evaluated through analysis, and presented in easy-to-understand visualizations – providing the basis for data-driven decisions. AI is increasingly shortening the path from data to decision while reducing the manual effort involved.
BI analyzes historical and current data to understand what has happened. Business analytics goes a step further: it explains why something happened and forecasts future developments using Predictive analytics and machine learning.
DeltaMaster by Bissantz is an example of an integrated BI solution that combines analysis, planning, and reporting in a single system.
DeltaMaster combines analysis, planning, and reporting in a single system, automatically detects variances, intelligently consolidates key figures, and derives AI-supported insights and recommendations for action – for maximum informative value with minimal effort.
Summary
Business intelligence is now an indispensable instrument for modern business management: it transforms raw data into clear, decision-relevant insights – quickly, transparently, and at scale. From data integration and analysis to visualization, BI provides the foundation for informed decisions at all levels. With DeltaMaster, Bissantz offers a BI platform that consistently delivers on this promise – integrated, automated, and AI-supported.
Free of charge for you
Quickguide Business Intelligence: Download now!
