Business Intelligence - What of it?

Well it has become big in the eyes of the Microsoft marketing engine.

However, it has been big within the IT industry for a lot of years under various other labels. People have tried Enterprise information Systems, Management Information Systems, Statistical and Forecasting Systems, Data Warehouses, Data Marts, Corporate information Systems ..... etc, etc.

What it all boils down to is that millions have been spent on hardware and software but often the business is still running blind. Helped along by the culling of process management positions by ill defined projects which end up leading to the throwing away of a lot of the knowledge required to grow the business in a managed way.

Well when something is missing then you need someone to fill the gap. There is enough knowledge out there it is just a matter of collating it and presenting it in a useful fashion. Microsoft's' BI team feel that they have a valuable contribution to make in putting some of this knowledge back for our use.

It can be garnered here, where you will find all kinds of helpful information that it would normally take you many years to assimilate, while making common mistakes which later become known as experience.