The concept of Business Intelligence (“BI”) has been around since the term "Business Intelligence" was originally coined by Richard Millar Devens’ in the ‘Cyclopædia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes’ in 1865.
Devens used the term to describe how the banker, Sir Henry Furnese, gained profit by receiving and acting upon information about his environment, prior to his competitors.
“Throughout Holland, Flanders, France, and Germany, he maintained a complete and perfect train of business intelligence. The news of the many battles fought was thus received first by him, and the fall of Namur added to his profits, owing to his early receipt of the news.”
The ability to collect and react accordingly based on the information retrieved, an ability that Furnese excelled in, is today still at the very heart of BI.
The world of data has moved on since Sir Henry had his BI delivered by a combination of pigeons, telegraph and men on sweaty horses. These days one click can provide you with more data than you could digest in a lifetime.
“Big Data” is revolutionising the way we do business. Gone are the days when you had to rely on market samples or information collected over the life of a six-month project that is now so out of date it’s next to useless because the data has evolved. Now you can have it all, when you want it. The keys to the data warehouse delivered to your laptop.
So why aren’t we all the owners of our own data warehouses stuffed full of lovely data then?
One reason is the cost. Many data providers entice you on board with what seem like reasonable data costs, which increase markedly once you have developed a serious data habit eventually becoming so expensive it prevents you from exploiting the full potential of big data.
Another, and perhaps the most common reason is “data overload”.
“I’ve bought the keys to the warehouse but I can’t find what I need quickly and by the time I find it, it’s out of date, so I stopped using it because it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to.”
So, if having the keys to the warehouse alone isn’t the answer, what is?
“You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data” - Daniel Keys Moran.
It appears the answer then is to have unlimited access to all the big data at a reasonable cost, on a system that allows you to quickly and easily turn those data into up to date, useful, business intelligence to inform your decision making.
Red Flag Alert provides you with instant access to all the business data you could need. No more searching through mounds of irrelevant information, just succinct business data that you can tailor to your requirements
