What is business intelligence (BI)? As a former corporate treasurer for 10 years, my perspective is influenced by switching to a career in BI in 2016.

The change of role involved leaving my comfort zone position as treasury manager of a local subsidiary and adopting my corporate treasurer learning mode. In the process, I discovered terrific BI tools that I’ve used to improve business results over the past three years.

Yet years before this move – and before BI became a buzz phrase with HTML developers and Excel – I was already working in BI, albeit unwittingly. My job at that time involved redesigning and structuring processes, gathering data, and delivering timely presentations; ensuring that the message was relevant and delivered to the right people. In a nutshell that defines what BI actually is.

My latest job began with the task of redesigning the company’s cash balance and forecast process, standardising and simplifying local subsidiaries’ reporting, and showing accurate data that was meaningful to the company's C-suite executives. Moreover, this had to be done quickly.

Early 2016 marked a pivotal transition time in the business intelligence landscape. After this date, you didn´t need to be a hard coder, mathematician, or statistician to perform BI data analysis. Competition among the leaders in BI tools and the rise of newcomers transformed BI offerings from the arcane to the level of self-service for mere mortals. 

The appearance of subscription and ‘freemium’ models, plus the accessibility of online education, made it possible for a finance manager with a non-technical background, to learn to use new digital tools and lead a BIinitiative. BI services became both affordable and accessible, without the need to know programming languages.

Helped by user-friendly programs and easy access to online courses, within a few months I led my first BI implementation. This dynamic experience would define my new path as a full-time BI professional.

BI tips

My first three years as a BI consultant taught me the following tips:

• Successful BI projects require top management support: You will need the three most valuable company assets: people, time, and money. Be sure that you secure buy-in from executives at the top focusing on your project. The upside is that a BI initiative needn’t be a hard sell when appropriately configured– consider the figures below:
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• Automation needs IT support from the outset: You should aim to have an automated process. For this you need: a connection to databases, servers, pass through firewalls, authentication methods, and other tech items.
• Two essentials for your BI plan are data origins and final users: This needs to be clear from inception. So ask where the raw data originate from? Which users will be consuming the reports and with what objective in mind? Clarifying these issues can avoid future headaches.
• If seeking support from a consultant, prioritise business knowledge over tech knowledge: Choose a consultant who has faced the same issues as you, ask them about previous projects that solved a similar problem, and request that the individual be identified upfront so you can meet him/her, at least virtually, and establish a productive working relationship.
• Continuously educate yourself: It’s no surprise technology advances are accelerating, and this also applies to BI. New solutions appear daily, creating possibilities to make things better if you commit to becoming a lifelong learner.

Successful BI

Is it easy to start a successful BI initiative? Definitely not. Is it worth it? Emphatically yes, each minute and penny spent on BI will multiply its value for you personally, for your team, and for the business.

You will unlock value at all levels and enjoy a happier team. A well driven BI project will provide relevant timely data to management for better and quicker decision-making, benefiting your entire organization. It will also eliminate tedious and non-value adding tasks, freeing time for your employees to perform more challenging and rewarding activities while focusing on individual growth.

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This article depicts my own journey from standard accounting/finance work to leveraging data analytics that produces actionable BI for senior executives. I now advise diverse clients on how to optimise their use of BI. Microsoft's Power BI service my tool of choice, but other great ones are available on the market. Gartner Quadrant is a helpful source of further information.