What is Business Intelligence? ECommerce business intelligence refers to a multitude of different software used to analyze an organization's raw data. This software is designed for gathering, analyzing, storing, and providing access to data. By integrating data throughout the enterprise and providing end-users with automated reporting, BI software is able to increase the performance of an organization through the use of a number of analytics such as statistics, data, text mining, and predictive analytics to reveal consistencies or patterns in your consumer’s behavior. Why is it Important to Know Your Consumer Behavior? When doing business, your key contributor to success is, actually doing business. Market research and the study of consumer behavior can inform a company of the activities of their consumers and how to predict (then act on) fluctuations and future events. By understanding what the market and your consumers are doing, you are able to better serve your target audience. With BI, the ability to analyze and study all aspects of your business; production, product, selling, marketing, and social marketing, is paramount to the future success of your firm. With the resources available to analyze your company’s data, management can then allocate the business’ resources into their most optimal distribution. Breaking it Down More often than not, these systems display business intelligence in areas of business such as customer support, customer profiling, market segmentation, market research, statistical analysis, product profitability, and inventory and distribution analysis. In order to break down what business intelligence for eCommerce is and what this software actually does. We can split our definition into 5 parts: reporting, analysis, data mining, data quality, data interpretation, and predictive analysis. Reporting Reporting is the process of gathering data, formatting it, and exporting it both inside and outside the business. Some of the capabilities of a reporting application are to set up automated alerts, schedule and deliver reports automatically, and much more. To read more on reporting click here. Analysis Analyzing data generally assumes that your data has already been reported. By analyzing your data, you are identifying patterns and establishing connections within your set of data. Finding these patterns helps empower your decision-makers to make more informed decisions. To read more on analysis click here. Data Mining Data mining is the extraction of information from your company’s data. By utilizing BI software, you are able to gather your information faster and more efficiently. With data mining, you can analyze and compare your performance to your competitors’ performance, to find ways you can do better. To read more about data mining click here. Predictive Analysis A sub-branch of data mining, predictive analysis attempts to foresee and predict trends, patterns, and probabilities from our data. Predictive analysis integrates your data and information collected in real-life situations and “what ifs” to foresee potential upcoming events or market changes. To read more about predictive analysis click here. Suggested Readings To learn more, follow one of the links below for additional articles, blogs, tips, and tools about Business Intelligence. Business Intelligence solutions Self-Service Business Intelligence Business Intelligence Definition Data Mining Business Intelligence Predictive Analysis To learn more about business intelligence, please click contact Clarity or fill out a quote request form.