Real value of Business Intelligence is to detect opportunities: Gartner

Speaking at this week’s Gartner Business Intelligence (BI) Summit, Gartner analysts have stated that if companies want to derive the most value from their BI implementations, they should apply reporting and analytics outwardly, to uncover future business opportunities.

Biggest beneift of Business Intelligence? The ability to anticipate opportunity

“The biggest impact from BI is its ability to anticipate business opportunities,” said Gartner analyst, Patrick Meehan.

Another Gartner analyst, Michael Smith, concurred with Meehan’s sentiment, suggesting that whilst it is important to apply BI to inward-facing objectives, using historical data to cut costs and enhance operational efficiencies, corporations need to apply reporting and analytics outwardly to realize the full potential of their BI initiatives.

Most businesses only using Business Intelligence to analyze historical data

“The vast majority of information in BI systems [today] is lagging indicators,” Smith noted. Smith went on to explain that the real value of BI lies in its ability analyze a combination of internal and external metrics, to assist organizations to project forward, and expand business operations.