Business Intelligence and Data: What you Need to Know

By Dani Sheehan. 

In an era of endless data, business intelligence can help you evaluate your company’s success and reach your benchmarks. 

In August’s RLW® from RoofersCoffeeShop®, Heidi J. Ellsworth sits down with Eugene Zukowski of Jobba Trade Technologies, John Kenney of Cotney Consulting Group and Trent Cotney of Adams and Reese LLP to share insights on business intelligence (BI) and how owners can scale their businesses with the right data. The three industry experts discuss how to incorporate BI into business functions to improve company success. 

BI is one of those terms that gets thrown around frequently, but it’s not often understood exactly how it’s good for business. As Eugene defines it, “Business intelligence is understanding the data in your business, so you have an insight into what your company is actually doing... What’s my data telling me? And it’s the ability to look at that information and make good executive decisions.”  

Gathering data is not a new process in the industry. Heidi jokes about the evolution of gathering data from handing in a notebook to creating Excel charts to the advancements available today. John says it can be overwhelming because we now live in an era of data overload. “There's a ton of data that you can track just for the sake of tracking data, right? It's kind of like an app on your phone that tracks everything you do in a day or all your body functions, blood pressure, all the different things. It can be too much. So, what you want to do is take and understand what numbers really mean to your particular business.” 

The consensus is that too much data is just as harmful as no data at all. As Eugene reiterates, “I kind of look at it like paralysis by analysis, because you’re looking at so much information, you don’t know what to do with the information you have.” Business intelligence isn’t so much about the gathering of data, but how you use it. Trent adds, “I kind of view business intelligence as an opportunity to, for lack of a better word, weaponize data. You get the opportunity to see where you are weak and fix it. And if you are paying attention to the data, you can correct problems.” This allows your business to operate proactively rather than reactively, which mitigates potential legal issues, safety issues, employee issues and more, and instead propels your company to greater growth and continued success. 

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the webinar to learn more about how to scale your business with business intelligence.