If you're thinking of investing in business
intelligence analytics or executive dashboards, it's helpful to see how others
are successfully using these tools to find meaningful insights out of mountains
of data. Below are three examples of different ways that business intelligence
analytics are being used.
Google Analytics
Webmasters and bloggers
alike use Google Analytics to get a deeper understanding of how their websites
and blogs are performing. Built-in tools allow you to analyze sales,
conversions, content, keywords, traffic sources, advertising campaigns, social
media promotions, and more – all from a web-based dashboard. Both standard and
custom reporting options are available. In order to use Google's business
intelligence analytics tools, you need a Google account and a website or blog.
Once signed up, you place a short line of code into your website or blog and
the rest happens behind the scenes. One great bonus to using Google
Analytics, besides the fact that it's free, is all the different resources that
are available online. Google has a number of resources online and it's a
great way to teach users about Google Analytics available here.
Fitbit
Several health and
fitness devices make good use of business intelligence analytics including
Fitbit. Fitbit devices are small digital pedometers that send the data they
gather to an online dashboard or mobile app. Though these are designed for
personal use, they share similarities to executive dashboards. Instead of
tracking business data, they track health and fitness data. When you view your
Fitbit dashboard, you'll see several graphical displays detailing your weight,
calories burned, food plan, calories in vs. calories out, activity, distance,
sleep, and steps.
Zillow
Zillow.com has an
interactive map that displays homes for sale or rent in a specific community
based on user-specified criteria. For example, if you only want to view
recently sold, single family homes in a given ZIP code, you can adjust its
filters to reflect your preferences and then view the filtered results.
These are just a few of
the many different ways companies use business intelligence analytics to make
sense of their data. In some cases, such as with Zillow, the data is made
available to the general public; in others, it's delivered only to account
holders (Source:Business Intelligence Analytics from Inetsoft Technologies). In a business setting, you can set up individual and group
permissions to ensure the integrity of your data. The possibilities are
endless! How will you use executive dashboards?
Author Bio:
Frank is an author and
expert in the field of business intelligence. He enjoys sharing information in
his field to help users understand the importance of business intelligence.
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