Business intelligence is a powerful tool for organizations to gain insights into their data and make informed decisions. It involves the use of various types of analytics, such as descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive, and cognitive analysis. Each type of analysis has its own purpose and can be used individually or together to create a comprehensive view of the data. Descriptive analysis is the simplest type of analysis and the basis on which the other types are based.
It allows you to extract trends from raw data and succinctly describe what happened or is currently happening. Descriptive analysis answers the question: “What happened?” Diagnostic analysis addresses the following logical question: “Why did this happen?” It is useful for getting to the root of an organizational problem. Predictive analysis is used to make predictions about future trends or events and answers the question: “What could happen in the future?” Finally, prescriptive analytics answers the question: “What should we do next?” Prescriptive analysis takes into account all possible factors in a scenario and suggests practical conclusions. This type of analysis can be especially useful when making decisions based on data. The four types of data analysis should be used together to create a complete picture of the story that the data tells and to make informed decisions.
To understand the current situation of your company, use descriptive analysis. To find out how your company got there, take advantage of diagnostic analysis. Predictive analysis is useful for determining the trajectory of a situation. Will current trends continue? Finally, prescriptive analysis can help you consider all aspects of current and future scenarios and to plan viable strategies. Cognitive analysis is a new type that employs AI, machine learning and deep learning.
It is used to gain insights from large amounts of data that would otherwise be too complex for humans to process. Cognitive analytics can be used to identify patterns in customer behavior, predict customer needs, and optimize marketing campaigns. Nowadays, more and more organizations are adopting a modern business intelligence model, characterized by a self-service approach to data. According to the report The Global State of Enterprise Analytics by business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, 56 percent of respondents said that data analysis allowed their companies to make “faster and more effective” decisions. Popular companies such as Starbucks, Accenture, Amazon, Splunk, Google, Uber, IBM and many others use business analytics to personalize product recommendations, make logistical business decisions, and better understand markets, customers, and business processes. The analysis spectrum comprises these different types of business analysis that allow a company to understand and learn from previous patterns. It is, in effect, the fusion of descriptive, diagnostic and predictive analyses to promote decision-making. In practice, you know that you have modern business intelligence when you have a comprehensive view of your organization's data and use it to drive change, eliminate inefficiencies and adapt quickly to changes in the market or supply.
Prescriptive analysis refers to true guided analysis, in which your analyses prescribe or guide you to a specific action to take. Business intelligence is an invaluable tool for organizations looking to gain insights into their data and make informed decisions. By leveraging different types of analytics such as descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive and cognitive analyses together, businesses can create a comprehensive view of their data that will help them make better decisions faster.
