In today’s fast and competitive markets, businesses need to constantly improve their performance. Enterprises need to record their processes, set targets, and constantly work on it. All of this generates a lot of data. To wade through this sea of information, they use various tools and statistical methods. Data-processing techniques are utilized to create models, track the efficiency of activities and predict the progress of the company. In this context, business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) are two significant terminologies. In the field of data-analytics and exploration, they are often confused with each other. Both provide tools to handle data, hammer out KPIs, and present various reports and dashboards. Although quite similar, they do have certain differences in approach and processes. The following are the main differences.
Maintenance vs. Change
BI is usually associated with providing real-time information to improve daily efficiency. It concerns itself with the smooth maintenance of the operations. The details of the process matter more than the reason for the process itself. It relies on historical data to enable informed decision making and problem identification. It assists in the daily maintenance of the business operations. BA on the other hand analyses business processes to present predictive models for change and improvement. Changing or taking leaps in the business operations involve business analytics. It addresses the source of the processes. BA asks the question “Why” a certain process is executed in that order. It prepares the company for what is coming ahead with its predictive tools. Statistical models are utilized to chart a course of action.
BA – a subset of BI
Both approaches provide a wide array of statistical tools to analyze data. BI is growing daily to becoming a huge process. By allowing people to track data and performance indicators it allows people to make targeted decisions. BI arms its users with report generation capabilities regarding the daily operation of the company. BA comes into the picture when they want to make future decisions with this information. Hence, BA is a core part of BI. Many might claim the other way around. This just goes to show the wide developments that have taken place in the field of data analytics and exploration. The differentiation matters because you need to differentiate the tools and methods to be utilized at different stages of operations. As a general rule, descriptive analysis is carried out by BI whereas predictive analysis falls under BA.
At iMovo, we work with best-in-class technologies to enable organisations to mine and visualise their information in a meaningful way that helps them to take the right decisions at the right time. As an expert in the field of Business intelligence and Big Data Analytics, we can help your company implement and sustain a product and guide you on how BI can complement your existing environment. For more information contact us on info@imovo.com.mt.
