Business Intelligence Technology
Each category of business intelligence technology makes its own impact on business intelligence applications.
Business intelligence (BI) technology can be divided into three major categories:
- Business Intelligence Visualization Technology
- Business Intelligence Querying Technology
- Business Intelligence Data Processing Technology
Business Intelligence Visualization Technology
Business Intelligence visualization technology refers to unique methodologies of graphically presenting data. Typical business intelligence applications present various charts and graphs (line, bar, column, scatter, area, etc.) to help visualize data. Different types of data lend themselves to different methods of visualization in order to be best understood. BI visualization technology is usually aimed at simplifying the viewing and understanding of large amounts of data by presenting it in a visual form that makes it easier to identify trends and exceptions in the data, without having to go through endless lists of numbers.
Business Intelligence Querying Technology
Business Intelligence querying technology includes techniques of formulating business queries. Since the users of business intelligence applications are usually not IT professionals, it is often not practical to use standard data extraction techniques like SQL or MDX for executing queries. Instead, BI querying technology introduces techniques of formulating business queries in a short and concise syntax, often with the aid of visual tools. This approach makes it much easier for non-IT professionals to build and use application user interfaces for querying corporate data.
Business Intelligence Data Processing Technology
Business Intelligence data processing technology is considered the most complex of BI technologies. BI applications tend to be very query-intense and require instant query response times as well as fast data loading, even when using very large amounts of data. While conventional business intelligence technologies attempt to adapt classic database technologies to achieve this, modern BI companies have introduced completely different types of data processing (e.g., columnar databases, just-in-time in-memory processing, ElastiCubes). However, because data processing is the most prevalent Achilles' heel of most BI applications, data processing technologies are not only measured by query response or data load times. These technologies are mainly measured by whether they significantly shorten and simplify the overall BI implementation process, as well as what kinds of hardware are required to implement them.