Business Intelligence (BI) vs Artificial intelligence (AI)
The difference between BI and AI, and why you need both as an entrepreneur
Everyone has heard of it, but most entrepreneurs do not even consider using it. As complex as it sounds, it doesn't have to be and brings enormous value from one-man shows to large corporations.
Data is the most valuable asset of your business and you should start collecting as much as possible and putting it to work. Using it in the right way can give you advantages over your competitors you can’t even think of.
But let's start with the basics— BI shows the past, AI tells the future.
Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence is all about analyzing and understanding data that was generated by your systems and combining them to get valuable insights about your business.
Most of us are already using simple tools to analyze web traffic, financial data, or order throughputs. But are you already combining this data? Probably not. The first goal should be bringing the data from all your systems to one central analytics/BI platform (e.g. PowerBI, Tableau). This gives you the ability to combine the data and track your entire business in one place, from Marketing to Service.
One of the main benefits of BI is that it allows you to make more informed and data-driven decisions. By providing a centralized view of all relevant data, BI enables you to see the big picture and understand how different factors and variables may be impacting performance. This can help identify areas for improvement, optimize processes, and make better use of resources.
For instance, you can now understand how your marketing campaigns influence your operations, maybe you need more people to keep up with the demand or need to call your supplier to deliver more before you start with the campaign.
Artificial Intelligence
In contrast to BI, Artificial Intelligence uses the generated data from BI to perform artificial decisions, predict better future outcomes and simulate different scenarios based on past data and real-time incoming data.
AI is basically making the decisions for you in a much faster and almost real-time way. It can analyze the data and combine it with external factors.
For instance, AI could manage your entire supply chain and automatically send orders to your supplier once incoming leads increase. Or you could also use external information, like weather data to predict if more people will show up today (e.g. if you are running some indoor sports business)
I think one of the main differences in comparison to a human decision is, that AI can do it much faster and adjust actions in real time based on changing circumstances.
Why do you need both?
Simple, to stay in business :)
The more levels you master (see the picture above) and start using information, the bigger the advantage against your competitors. Information is power (BI) and the faster you execute (AI) the better. It is impossible to compete against an AI/BI driven business if you are not using it yourself.
It also saves you a lot of money by reducing waste and setting the resources you have better to work. Reduce labor force with automated insights and optimized decision-making.
Conclusion
Both, BI and AI have enormous potential and will change the way businesses operate, and many organizations are already using them to get more insights and improve performance. They help you get more information and execute faster as well as 10x the advantage over your competitors.
