Business intelligence (BI) is nothing new to enterprises that have been relying on data processing and analysis to deliver insightful reports that reflect business performance.

These tools are a great match for enterprises that value the data their operations generate.

BI software and programs work together to turn data into actionable insights that can drive better business decisions and market strategies and, ultimately, drive revenue as a result.

Combined with the masses of external data amassing every second – whether that’s customers’ feedback and experience, competitor intelligence, seasonal buying habits, or otherwise – businesses can have a huge amount of data at their disposal.

While BI systems draw specific data from pre-defined sources to turn them into insights, big data technologies capture data from a variety of sources in real-time, regardless of their formats or structure.

Unlike BI, big data doesn’t answer critical questions that enterprises have, but rather, it provides them with new information that can prompt new questions that enterprises haven’t thought of asking.

Once enterprises have a better idea of what they want to find out, they can turn to BI tools to deliver the insights, and even make predictions.

Business impact

Since big data came into the picture, BI becomes just that much more conducive.

Through big data, BI can now deliver insights that enable businesses to better understand their customers, improve marketing techniques, make personalization possible and identify issues and opportunities that emerge in real-time.

Marketing strategies no longer have to a shot in the dark. With data varying from customer feedback to their journey records, enterprises can market products with a clear understanding of what customers want and need.

Enterprises can then leverage data alongside real-time market analysis data to develop and deliver new and improved products and services.

Big data technologies can help businesses augment their operations. Data doesn’t have to be externally sourced, it can come from internal systems and programs as well.

Siloes between teams and hiccups in workflows can be detected in real-time, allowing enterprises to redesign their processes effectively.