Business Intelligence (BI) today is a priority for companies that want to remain competitive in the market.
In this article, we first explore what it is and how it can be useful for optimising production, costs and quality within a company.
What is Business Intelligence and what is it for?
BI is the set of processes, technologies and tools that enable simple information and raw data to be transformed into useful information for decision-making and thus into a strategic resource that fuels innovation and business growth.
With Business Intelligence, data become meaningful information for the company, which can turn data into a strategic asset for success
In practice, BI provides companies with very useful information to understand what has happened in the past, what is happening in the present, and what might happen in the future; this enables them to make more informed and strategic decisions and thus optimise the entire value chain, from procurement to production to the delivery of the finished product, improving efficiency, quality and profitability.
We could say, to summarise, that BI offers a complete and integrated view of corporate data.
5 Benefits of Business Intelligence
Thanks to Business Intelligence, companies can:
- Make more informed decisions.
- Have a complete and integrated view of the data.
- Optimising production processes.
- Reducing costs.
- Improving quality.
Where to start? From data collection!
The first step in starting effective Business Intelligence is to collect and integrate data from different sources, both internal and external to the company. These must then be transformed into a uniform format before being analysed.
The process of data collection and integration usually takes place through ETL (Extract Transform Load) solutions, i.e. extraction, transformation and loading of data: in essence, data are collected from an unlimited number of sources and their organisation and centralisation takes place within a single repository.
Centralisation of data allows companies to monitor in real time the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) relevant to the entire company, i.e. how effectively it is achieving its goals. With centralisation, information is securely accessible by different company actors, such as the department head, production manager, scheduler and purchasing manager, each with their own access permissions.
Subsequently, the collected, organised and centralised data are then analysed in order to identify patterns, trends and possible anomalies, and subsequently visualised for easy understanding by business users. Finally, this data is communicated to a corporate audience using presentations and dashboards, for example.
Nexeeva Solutions for Business Intelligence
The main advantage of Business Intelligence for a company in the manufacturing sector is that it allows production lines to be monitored in real time, identifying any slowdowns, downtime or anomalies in the production process. In this way, the company can take timely action to correct problems and improve the efficiency of production lines.
Nexeeva developed a centralised system for real-time monitoring of corporate data, thus making the results of analyses accessible to business users and supporting both operational decisions and strategic planning.
The technologies used are as follows:
- ETL system with Pentaho for collecting, transforming and loading data from various heterogeneous sources such as production, purchasing and quality control. Pentaho makes it possible to access data that would otherwise be inaccessible and use it for the company’s business.
- GrafanaDashboard as an intuitive and customisable interface to display data in one accessible place in a clear and effective manner. The dashboard interface is interactive, with charts, tables and maps accessible from any device.
In the pictures, some examples of dashboards developed by Nexeeva:
Nexeeva also offers customised advice to companies wishing to adopt corporate data monitoring solutions.
Conclusions
Business Intelligence is an essential tool for companies wishing to optimise their processes, reduce costs and improve product quality. With Nexeeva solutions, it is possible to create an efficient and scalable BI system that supports business growth and success.
Do you want to seize the new opportunities of Business Intelligence?