Business intelligence (BI), like data analytics, does not seem to be as prominent these days as data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, data analytics and BI are separate disciplines from data science and AI, with the former still being especially relevant when trying to improve organisational performance and success. With Raquel Seville of BI Brainz, we get a primer on BI, and among other things, she highlights: misconceptions people have about BI; important skills individuals who want to work in BI should possess; and basic activities and tools MSMEs can use to begin to tap into the benefits of BI.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

Although the phrase “Data is the new oil” has been around for some time, and arguably may even be overused, still too few organisations are leveraging data as they should. For the most part, data is automatically generated, but organisations need to be intentional about wanting it to serve specific purposes – such as providing greater insights into their operation and performance, and improving their decision-making – to provide a basis for the appropriate systems and resources to be established.

As a result, and in 2023, business leaders and decision-makers across the Caribbean region are still relying on, gut instincts, third-party and anecdotal information to make important decisions for and on behalf of the organisations they serve. However, even in the Caribbean region, industries have become more competitive, shareholders are demanding increased profits, and consumers are becoming savvier and more discerning about the quality of products and services they purchase or with which they engage.

We are revisiting an earlier episode on Business Intelligence, which seems as relevant today as it was when it was first released in 2019. In our increasingly data-driven world, organisations – from micro businesses to large corporates – need to do a better job of using the data they inherently possess.

 

Introducing our guest

Raquel Seville

Raquel Seville is a Business Intelligence (BI) expert, a published Author, an International Speaker, and a Lecturer with nearly 20 years of experience in the field. Her path to BI began with software development, as a Computer Science major at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica. But a fortuitous internship at the telecoms company, LIME (now known as Flow) introduced her to data analytics, and she has not looked back.

Raquel is the Chief Executive Officer for the Caribbean region for BI Brainz, a BI and analytics training and solutions company that is headquartered in the United States of America, but with offices in Jamaica, which Raquel heads. The company has worked with Fortune 500 companies helping them solve their business problems with data, and through its BI Brainz Academy, it has trained over 10,000 BI and Analytics professionals from over 150 countries.

 

Insight into our conversation

BI and data analytics are perhaps more important than ever, as organisations, regardless of their field, need to be more efficient, effective and relevant. To a considerable degree, the keys to do so lie in the ability to measure, track and analyse relevant data and thereafter, draw suitable insights and inferences that can be incorporated back into systems and processes to improve performance.

As we stated when this conversation with Raquel was initially released, it can be considered a primer on business intelligence. We asked some basic questions on the subject and sought some advice to help large enterprises, small businesses, and everything in between, get a firmer footing on the business intelligence path.

However, due to the ‘noise’ about AI, it can appear that BI is no longer a separate discipline, but has been subsumed by generative AI. However, although AI does certain things very well, currently, it may be ill-equipped to provide highly specific information or advice specific to a particular organisation operating in a specific business environment in a specific country, for example. And the remedy for these limitations would be costly and time-consuming.

In other words, AI cannot (currently) replace BI. Below are questions posed to Raquel during our conversation.

  1. What is business intelligence?
  2. How is business intelligence different from data analytics?
  3. How is business intelligence different from market intelligence?
  4. Are there any predefined/standard metrics or measures that a business intelligence exercise must include?
  5. Are there any constraints or limitations in the types of organisations that could apply business intelligence?
  6. What might be some of the misconceptions people have about business intelligence?
  7. To what degree is an organisation’s operating environment considered in a business intelligence exercise?
  8. What are some of the important skills that individuals who work in business intelligence must possess?
  9. For organisations that want to begin to rely on business intelligence, what are some of the first set of questions they should be asking themselves?
  10. For micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), what might be some basic things they can do, or tools they can use, in order to begin to tap into the benefits of business intelligence?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select Links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  R Seville; Mihai Surdu (Pixabay);  DCStudio (Freepik);  Lukas (Pexels)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell