Jamison Cush: Business intelligence is a
technology driven process of analyzing data and
presenting actionable information to executives
for decision making. It combines a variety of
tools, technologies and methods with the intent of
driving positive change and boosting company
performance. BI encompasses a variety of analytics
processes, including data mining, predictive
analysis, text mining, statistical analysis, and
big data analytics, as well as reporting processes
and tools like data visualization software, key
performance indicators, performance benchmarking,
and querying. By improving access to a company's
data, BI can increase overall profitability
through effective decision making and optimize
internal processes, as well as by helping
businesses discover new revenues, identify market
trends, and spot business problems. BI is often
used interchangeably with business analytics, but
there are differences. Typically BI uses both past
and current data to inform current decisions for
current success, while business analytics uses
past data to explain current data and predict what
will happen in the future. In other words, BI
addresses the "what" and "how" while business
analytics addresses the "why" and what "next."