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Business Intelligence or “BI” is a series of practices that help organizations make smarter decisions. BI combines Data Science, Business Acumen, and subject matter expertise to leverage data to make smarter decisions. BI provides organizational decision-makers the empowerment, evidence, and knowledge necessary to take organizations to new heights. How does it work? Keep reading to find out.

Getting Results

BI uses data from the whole organization to provide insights to get results. Every organization is on the precipice of exponential growth. BI is what can make the difference between ascending the mountain and rolling backward into obscurity. BI analyzes all of an organization’s data and external data to deliver data-driven key insights and results-oriented recommendations. Your organization is always looking to do new, different, and better things, but with all the options, BI can tell you which of these initiatives will provide the greatest return on your efforts. Suppose you want to start some new sales initiatives, BI can tell you which ones will be most profitable, which ones will get the most traction, and which ones will have the greatest ROI. Suppose your organization is experiencing exponential sales growth but your labour force can barely keep up, BI can tell you which processes are the least efficient, take up the most time, and where those efficiencies can be gained to scale your business quickly. With data-powered dashboards, reports, and real-time analysis you can see instantly what’s working, what’s not, and where to go next.

Data Science

Every organization has data, ranging from POS sales, booking and scheduling, payroll, expenses, HR staffing, and so much more! BI uses all this data, breaking down silo’s to look at all of this data at once. BI uses data science techniques to compare not just sales with expenses to provide profitability, but also looks at HR data to compare labour force metrics against revenues and determine the optimal scheduling for maximum profitability. BI also looks at external data to understand the impacts of external market factors on your organization. BI analyzes all financial data to provide the insights necessary to maximize profit makers and minimize costs and liabilities. BI uses data science techniques also to compare the impacts of organizational processes and practices on organizational outcomes and tracks the success of initiatives throughout the entire growth journey. BI works with more than just financial data, BI can leverage all data within your organization to provide a holistic approach to exponential growth.

Many people ask the question “what is market research?” This is something that many people hear a lot about but can’t really define. That is because it is actually quite a broad concept that has many definitions. After reading this post I hope that you understand better what Market Research is and how to use it within your organization.

What is my “Market”?

The idea in market research is understanding one’s “market”. This question is the foundation for all of market research because no matter what you’re trying to research, understanding your market is the most important aspect. To do this we go back to the 5 W’s, who, what, when, where, why, (and how). We need to know who these people are, sometimes we have a list of names in a client-driven organization, other times we have demographic information (IE age, gender, ethnicity, social status, etc.). In some cases our who is more broad with names like “adventurous epicurean” which span multiple demographic boundaries and look more at interests and behaviors. In the case of a not-for-profit organization, the who could be volunteers, staff, or program participants/recipients. Once you get a good idea around the who, we ask the what, what is it about these people that make them my market? Alternatively, what is it about my organization that draws these people to my offering? After that we need to know when. The when of it could bee chronological in nature (time of day, day of week, season or month of the year, etc.) if that’s not the case then it could be “when do these people need my offering?” If your business is a restaurant, people need your offering when they are hungry. If you run a not-for-profit that provides clothing to people in need, then people need this at the change of season (more than any other time of the year). In the digital age where and how can be thought of together and separately. Where people access your services and how they access your services informs how we look at our market. Is your market predominantly digital or physical? Does your market go to a specific place (IE a restaurant has a physical address)? Does your market reside within a specific or general geography? If you serve only your city, your province/state, or your country then this is your where. Lastly the why, why you over your competition, why your service satisfies their needs.

What is “Research”?

Research is equally as broad but a much simpler topic. Research is, in essence, finding the answer to any question that you can ask. Research can be primary or secondary in nature, where primary research is dealing directly with the the respondents and extracting insights directly from the raw data and specifically pertaining to the question at hand. Secondary research is working with published literature, studies, and existing reports. Market research for a restaurant might be as simple as understanding “what menu item should I add for my customers?” The answer to this question could be as simple as “a hamburger” or as complicated as a “Hasselback Tomato Caprese”. The methodology could be a combination of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources could include transactional data based on orders and/or surveying customers gauging responses to possible menu options. Secondary sources could include industry dining trends from top restaurants, food blogs, and other literature. Research isn’t just for business either, consider the not-for-profit space. As many know that not-for-profit organizations need to spend their resources very wisely, as such, starting a new program has to be successful right away without a margin for error. Engaging in market research can test a new program with minimal investment prior to launching the program.

So, what is market research? Market research is what we find at the intersection of the needs of the organization and the needs of the market. Market research provides the answer to “what’s next?”, “where are we going?”, and “what is our market telling us?”