The recipe for successful business: Business Intelligence and Big Data
Combining tools from these disciplines can predict consumer behaviour and improve the customer experience.
Santiago Hutter
iProfesional
September 23, 2021
All companies, regardless of size, work with data. Some are more aware of it, others less so.
Those that underestimate the importance of data input lose valuable customer, market and operational information, because by not applying technology in management, they undoubtedly increase the risk to their business continuity.
Those companies that do apply data analytics to their business benefit from being able to understand the past in order to correct it, and thus predict the future by improving customer experience, decision making and efficiency in day-to-day operations.
Is Big Data the same as Business Intelligence?
The answer to this question is no. Big Data is the set of tools to capture, process and store large volumes of data so that, then with Business Intelligence solutions, we can describe what we see in the data, make sense of it and make decisions based on that.
At this point, business intelligence is basically the exploitation of all data to make better decisions. From a commercial point of view, the first step for this to make sense is the adoption of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which will facilitate tasks when managing customer relations: marketing campaigns, prospecting, business opportunities and even after-sales relations.
This will give us a 360-degree view of customers.
Tools to improve the experience
There are several technological tools that support the correct use of data for business management.
Key solutions include, for example, ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, which help automate and manage processes in areas such as finance, manufacturing, accounting and billing, supply chain, human resources and operations.
Another useful tool is Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software; and MRP software, which is a planning and management system for production-oriented inventory control.
All of them today combined with Business Intelligence or Big Data solutions are key to boosting business intelligence.
Paradigms have changed, today we not only describe what we see, but we can also predict what is going to happen in business terms. For example, with cognitive analytics, using artificial intelligence, we can take current structured and unstructured data models and predict customer behaviour.
By being ahead of the curve, we can improve the customer experience in advance of problems that may arise, and in turn, provide the products and solutions that are right for the customer.