"Making better decisions faster" is a common phrase used to describe the purpose of BI, but understanding how this purpose translates into value for the business is the key in understanding why and how BI should be implemented.

Making better decisions is valuable for the strategic management of an organization; making those decisions faster is possibly better, but strategic decisions tend to have longer time frames. So, faster is often not always better or even necessary. Making better operational decisions faster, given the much higher frequency and shorter decision time frame, is of great value to the business. For this discussion we'll focus on this less often considered operational value of BI.

Operational decisions are made every day by people at all levels in the organization. The nature of these decisions vary greatly, including things such as troubleshooting and resolving a specific question, finding a more efficient process for performing a task, or determining an appropriate staffing level for the coming week.

Regardless of the specifics, operational decisions are generally concerned with improving efficiency, increasing productivity, improving quality of the product, or lowering cost. BI can provide the information necessary to identify opportunities for improvement in these areas as well as to make informed decisions on how to implement these improvements. But, the greatest value is realized only when that information is of high quality and is available when needed. Poor quality or late information makes for poor quality or late decisions.