Oh BI...what art thou?

Now that I've dived into this specialization, i think it's high time for me to understand, in more detail, what I'm getting myself into. ^__^

So what exactly is Business Intelligence (BI) about?

Simply put - “It’s not business as usual” ... ok we need more than just that. :D

BI combines products, technology, and methods to organize and consolidate key information in such a way that decision-making is made easier and quicker for managers (senior), aka accelerate the rate at which they physically process information, through a combination of highly sophisticated visual graphical user interface, resulting in improved business performance, increased revenues, reduced costs, hence, providing effective and efficient competitive advantage. Very importantly, BI supports modern information technologies, including data/information analysis and discovery techniques such as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Data Mining.

It involves converting those heaps of data / information assets in our organizations into actual useful, resourceful knowledge - which has to be for the right user, at the right time. (This is a critical point, as the “Business Intelligence Certification Guide” states that “Over 93% of corporate data is not usable in the business decision-making process today.”

Interestingly this generation of software was coined by Howard Dresner, in 1994, while predicting that "By 1996, use of business intelligence solutions will shift dramatically away from dedicated analysts to all managers and professionals as the preferred way of understanding the business...Instead of a small number of analysts spending 100% of their time analysing data, all managers and professionals will spend 10% of their time using BI software."
In the current complex and fast-paced world, which is too multi-dimensional, Multidimensional Managers (sounds so cool) are the future! They change the way companies operate (sell, interact with customers / suppliers, aligning management and financial goals, etc.), thus having the unusual leverage on business performance.

Now putting this into perspective of my experience, in the world of 2010-2011, as a Business Analyst for 2 years, I am yet to see any manager / senior manager even put the effort to touch this technology. Maybe it’s just the culture in my organization/country, for management to delegate 100% work down the line, without much of an actual understanding or strategy. In my organization, management made decisions based on their whims (mostly) and politics, rather than rolling out reports on actual market trends or statistics.

Okay getting out of my emo-mode now. :D

All in all, I'm pretty thrilled to be in this track, since BI is:

- the most dominant technology for Decision Support Systems (DSS), 

- a high technology priority for CIOs for the last 5 years

- a well paid career, as organizations will empty buckets loads of cash to implement this. *interesting* :)

Course Objective: Get HD in this course!!! \o/  (ensure deep and thorough understanding also)