4 Money-Saving, Open Source Business Intelligence Suites

Business intelligence (BI) is one of those buzzphrases that sound super-cool, but are often misunderstood. What is business intelligence and should you care? Do you need to drop a giant bucket of money on BI?

...There is little that is magical about making wise decisions for your business. The fabled steely-eyed rock-ribbed American businessman or businesswoman who stuns allies and competitors alike with daring and boldness doesn't pull those daring decisions out of the air -- the smart ones rely on data and analysis. Lots and lots of data and analysis. There are two general categories of business intelligence: competitive intelligence, and internal intelligence. Business intelligence doesn't have a strict definition and could encompass both, but for the purposes of this discussion we'll limit it to internal intelligence, because it is most important to have a thorough understanding of what's happening in your own shop.

Let's dispose of a popular BI myth right now, and that is the myth that spending a giant wad of money on fancy BI software will do you any good. It won't. BI software suites are marvelous tools, but like any tool they are no better than the people using them. The most important tools are brains, knowledge, and the time to do the job right. Equally important are good data, so you may need to invest some resources in improving your data collection and organization...