Business Intelligence in Plain Language

Book excerpt: One day a man walked into Asgard Inc. and changed the company forever. Unlike anyone who came before, he remembered and understood data as naturally as a fish swims in water. The CEO was shocked at how well the man knew the company. He started posing questions to this man. Who are my best customers? Why is this product struggling? Where is my greatest growth happening? The man answered these and more. Using his understanding of data, he identified key new markets, he discovered the best places to invest capital, and he even predicted the future. Overnight Asgard Inc. changed. Where before the CEO relied on limited information and gut feelings, now true knowledge guided his actions. The CEO took the man's hand in gratitude and asked, "Who are you?" and he replied, "I am Business Intelligence." Business Intelligence(BI) is shrouded in mystery for a lot of us but it doesn't need to stay that way. Business Intelligence in Plain Language is a systematic exploration of this complicated tool. I'll teach you about what it does, how it works, and most importantly how you can benefit from it. In this book you will learn about: Business Intelligence Data Mining Data Warehousing Data Discovery Big Data Outlier Detection Pattern Recognition Predictive Modeling Data Transformation and much more This book is your practical guide to understanding and implementing Business Intelligence.