Misconceptions of Business Intelligence

By reading my past posts, you may have noticed that business intelligence is primarily based on technology. Technology manifests data, data manifests information, and information manifests intelligence. But what if you take the technology out of the mix? Do you still have business intelligence? Professionals across all facets of business in all sectors of the world would most likely argue that yes, you indeed are still within a realm of business intelligence. Although one may not refer to it by this name, intelligence logically can transcend technology. Any set of information that is used to support decision making crosses this boundary and triggers the brain's visceral responses to make sense of things. So it is not far fetched to say that business intelligence is as much related to psychology as it is to technology. Practice this exercise... Think of your profession or past professions and look at how you have used information (from any medium) to make decisions. Chances are that in many cases, technology does not play a part.