Business intelligence uses data gathering, storage and knowledge management techniques to evaluate and transform complex data into actionable information that is used to make strategic, tactical and operational business decisions. Business intelligence solutions are a range of software applications, processes, technical architectures that enable the collection, presentation, analysis and dissemination of business information.
Business intelligence technologies use advanced data analysis and statistical techniques to enable businesses to discover patterns in their data and to forecast future directions in business activity. These solutions can be used on an ad-hoc basis, such as reporting and analysis for a particular issue, or can be sophisticated software that provides functions such as online analytical processing which can answer multi-dimensional queries and operational business intelligence that automatically integrates real-time data into a system for immediate use. Business intelligence is becoming an increasingly valuable method for using the massive amounts of data produced by digital systems to aid in decision making.
