Business Intelligence History

When did Business Intelligence first come into play?

Before the Information Age of the late 20th century companies had to collect their information from non-automated sources. Those were the days that businesses lacked any type of sophisticated computing resources to enable them to properly analyze data.

Due to the lack of today’s flourishing technologies organizations in that age made vital business decisions based purely on instinct, this could very often prove to be a fatal means of making a decision that concerned the well-being or livelihood of an organization.

The 1970s kicked off the beginning of the End-User Computing era, even so the complex world of technologies was in all fairness a bit too much for the normal human being to deal with. Years ago End-Users had to wait for everything, they had to wait for their systems, for programming changes, and even for reports.

They spent most of their time waiting for something, or rather anything, to emerge from central programming and computer sites. It is no secret that this time could have been better spent in analysis.

The earlier tools designed for query and reporting were sold as do-it-yourself solutions, though the idea was fascinating the solutions at times did very little solving at all. That was the way of Business Intelligence until in the mid-1970s several of the leading Business Intelligence vendors began offering tools that allowed even a non-programmer to plunge into the world of data access and analysis. Though by that time nearly every vendor’s product set included core exclusive data formats, which only served to complicate matters more so.

One undeniable reason for the new formatting was to provide the End-User with the power to generate his own data and to place that data into an arrangement that would be prime for the tool. A different reason was that the period of interpersonal databases had not yet proven themselves for conventional usage or implementation of end-user data, so the vendors were obligated to offer their own data solutions.

There were palpable uncertainties with such data sources such as: they were inaccessible and exclusive, they functioned only with that vendor’s tool, most were unable contain the girth of data needed, IT support was essential to pull information from the original source, and a hefty investment into these tools could cut off or shut in relevant data used within a tool that might later drop behind the fast pace in which technology was evolving.

What challenges were present with earlier Business Intelligence systems?

Throughout the growth of Business Intelligence vendors automated more systems, expanding the amount of data available. Yet the process of collection remained a troublesome challenge due to lack of a sufficient infrastructure for data exchange or to unharmonious systems.

Perhaps one of the most daunting challenges was the endless months it took to analyze and report on the massive amounts data that had been gathered. Though the process of decision making for the long term was greatly improved, short term tactical decisions were still made mostly on sheer intuition.

Next Page: Business Intelligence Growth