Business intelligence and data mining are two terms regularly thrown around in discussions regarding data management in various contexts. This is perhaps most prolific in the financial technology (or FinTech) industry, where data is king. Although the data itself is a crucial element, without appropriate management and ‘translation’ into a more intelligible format, it can be nigh on useless in its raw form.
This is where business intelligence software with thoughtfully designed reporting features becomes invaluable.
Table of Contents
Join the BDI mailing list
Keep up to date with the latest events, webinars, and product launches from BDI.
Sign UpWhat is business intelligence?
Whilst business intelligence can be understood as a concept, it is simultaneously hard to pin a concise definition to.
The word ‘intelligence’ refers to applying information to be interpreted and made comprehensible, and therefore more applicable. The concept of business intelligence (BI) in particular is regularly applied through software designed to transform data into ‘meaningful’ outcomes.
For example, it can be difficult to understand what is happening when viewing a raw dataset. However, most people can interpret correlations and meaning from data when presented with a bar chart with labels. This is what business intelligence software essentially does.
Whilst this is a basic example, it demonstrates the basic concept of business intelligence.
What is data mining?
Data mining is defined as extracting desired information from large datasets and transforming it into a new format.
A crucial aspect of data mining and data mining software is the ability to locate and determine patterns and/or anomalies in data. It is this trait that is responsible for procuring only relevant information.
Prior to automation via data mining software, large scale data analysis would have been undertaken manually by humans. An obvious consequence of this is the sheer scale of the labour and time-related costs this would have incurred.
Exploring the relationship between data mining and business intelligence
Whilst the relationship between business intelligence and data mining is not entirely connected, they are closely intertwined.
Without business intelligence, the potential value of data mining is left untouched. It is hard for teams to find any insight within the datasets.
In contrast, business intelligence can lack accuracy in reporting without data mining. This is because teams typically do not have large datasets, meaning less opportunity for in-depth reporting, analytics, and forecasting.
Therefore, using data mining without business intelligence, or business intelligence without data mining, is not a complete waste of time but rather a limitation of potential.
How can their relationship be improved and made more beneficial?
Data mining and BI are commonly combined in order to create a more symbiotic relationship. This makes enhancing this element of business practice a much simpler process.
BDI is partnered with a range of BI software developers, allowing our team of business experts to find the perfect solution for your organisation. BDI has a close working relationship with Sysynkt and Sharperlight, meaning our customers receive high-quality support for a fair price. We listen to our customers’ needs, ensuring that recommended solutions help meet their business goals, even if BDI is not partnered with that provider.
BDI also offers a Business Systems Review service, ensuring your teams extract the most value from your existing data. If you are interested in any of BDI’s services, or just want to speak to one of our business experts and find out more, then please get in touch.
Let’s start a journey of using data intelligently today.
Ready to start?
Our team of data intelligence experts are ready and waiting to work with your organisation
Recent Comments