Semantics

BUSINESS. INTELLIGENCE.

What is Business ? 

• Markets, Opportunities, Demand
• Products, Services, Offerings
• Customers, Partners

What is Intelligence ?

• Learning (by observation / from experience)
• Understanding (making sense of surroundings, figuring out what to do)
• Abstract thought (modeling, generalization, recognition & application of patterns)
• Reasoning (rational thinking, judgement, sense, explanation of cause & effect)
• Communication (knowledge exchange, collaboration, influence)
• Planning
• Problem solving (overcome obstacles)
• Goal-oriented (act purposefully, solution-seeking, leverage tools)

Combined... Business & Intelligence

• Learn - about the opportunities, the customers
• Understand - how much demand, in what area, from where
• Reason - what offerings can serve the demand
• Establish Patterns - comoditize, automate solution (for efficiency, scalability)
• Communicate - with target audience, partners, suppliers, enabling organizations
• Plan - product development, distribution channels, support
• Solve - any logistical, legal, organizational challenges
• Goal - set it, achieve it!

These patterns of thought remain stable, no matter the latest market dynamics, technology fad, or "expert" opinions. These are common sense you can build on, model after.

Ask yourself at every step, with every function, every outcome of your B.I. initiatives:

do the results help you learn, understand, communicate, solve problems, achieve goals?

Can you correlate your efforts on B.I. projects, and your investments in B.I. infrastructure to improvements on the business side?