Running Head: Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence Literature Review
Jordan Neal Gibson
Liberty University
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Abstract
Technology is an essential business tool and in today’s business environment business
intelligence is vital to a successful, innovative business. Business intelligence allows individual
employees, teams, and entire firms to make better decisions in addition to the knowledge and
experience that an individual or a firm as a whole has. This essay will demonstrate how business
intelligence is an essential business tool while discussing how businesses can implement
business intelligence to provide the company with a competitive advantage. Three areas that
business intelligence directly impacts are ways for the business to reduce expenses, increase
profits, and increase the level of customer satisfaction.
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Business Intelligence Introduction
Business intelligence is designed in order to provide decision makers in a company a vast
array of knowledge surrounding the company’s specific business environment. Donald Cooper
and Pamela Schindler (2014, pg. 9) describe a business intelligence system as one which is
“designed to provide the manager with ongoing information about events and trends in the
technological, economic, political and legal, demographic, cultural, social, and, most critically,
competitive arenas.” Business intelligence encompasses many different fields; therefore, a
reliable business intelligence system is incredibly important in order to provide decision makers
with up to date information on a continuous basis. The purpose of business intelligence directly
relates to the importance of business research, there are four primary purposes of business
research. The first purpose of business research is to both identify and define a firm’s
opportunities and issues. The second purpose is to define, examine, and improve strategies. The
third purpose is to define, examine, and improve tactics. The fourth purpose of business research
is to improve the understanding of different arenas that affect a business.
Business intelligence utilizes a computer system in order to help organizations make
decisions. The data in various arenas is pulled, quantified, and reported for purposes like
benchmarking, analysis, reporting, and evaluation. Business intelligence provides businesses
with indispensable information concerning customers, employees, competitors, suppliers,
economics, politics, and market information (Forbes Corporate Communications, 2015).
Significance of Business Intelligence
Business intelligence and technology allows businesses to reduce costs associated with
research and the duplication of work. Business intelligence also helps to moderate the various
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risks associated with decision making as data is able to support the decisions that are made.
Decision makers are able to increase the level of efficiency and streamline policies and
procedures utilizing business intelligence systems (Schloss, 2015). Managers have a
responsibility to support and guide other employees in the vision for a company. Managers
utilize business intelligence information in order to improve effectiveness of decisions. A poor
decision may prove to be detrimental to the long-term success of a company; therefore, business
intelligence empowers managers and employees to make the best decisions. Managers may also
utilize business intelligence systems to help support and direct employees based on the overall
performance of specific employees. Measuring an employee’s overall performance and having a
manager support or direct behavior leads to improved performance, reliable data is imperative
