Business intelligence (BI) is an umbrella term for the technology that enables data preparation, data mining, data management, and data visualization. Business intelligence tools and processes allow end users to identify actionable information from raw data, facilitating data-driven decision-making within organizations across various industries.

There are a number of BI tools in the marketplace, which aid business users in analyzing performance metrics and extracting insights in real time. These tools focus on self-service capabilities, reducing IT dependencies and enabling decision-makers to recognize performance gaps, market trends, or new revenue opportunities more quickly. BI applications are commonly used to make informed business decisions, advancing a company’s position within the marketplace.

User adoption of BI software continues to increase at a rapid pace, especially as customers migrate workloads to the cloud. Vendors are increasingly supportive of different cloud platform providers, leading to more SaaS-based BI solutions and subscription-based pricing models.