Business Intelligence, often just called BI, is basically about using information the smart way. It covers the systems, methods, and tools companies rely on to collect, combine, analyze, and present data so that decisions aren’t made blindly. At the end of the day, the whole point of BI is pretty simple: help businesses make better choices.
If you think about it, BI is really a kind of Decision Support System (DSS) powered by data. Reports, query tools, executive dashboards — all of that falls under its umbrella.
Before Computers: The First Signs of BI
Business intelligence isn’t something that appeared only after technology. Even way back, people realized that information was power.
The phrase “business intelligence” was actually used long ago in the Cyclopaedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes. In that book, Richard Millar Devens explained how a banker, Sir Henry Furnese, managed to stay ahead of rivals. He did it by keeping close tabs on politics, instability, and market shifts before anyone else caught on.
Devens wrote that Furnese kept “a comprehensive and faultless train of business intelligence throughout Holland, Flanders, France, and Germany.” In other words, he built a network that constantly fed him fresh news.
Sure, Furnese’s reputation later got messy — some called him a shady financier — but the idea stuck: collecting business information gave you an edge. That small idea was the seed that would eventually grow into what we call BI today.
The Real Shift: Mid-20th Century
Fast-forward to the 20th century. By then, industries were swimming in data, especially after World War II, and people needed a better way to handle it.
In 1958, IBM scientist Hans Peter Luhn wrote a paper called “A Business Intelligence System.” He described an automatic system that could deliver information directly to different departments — whether industrial, scientific, or government.
Luhn also leaned on Webster’s Dictionary for a definition of intelligence: “the ability to comprehend the interrelationships of provided facts in such a way as to steer behavior toward a desired objective.”
That definition nailed it. BI wasn’t just about storing numbers; it was about understanding connections in the data so you could act smarter. Luhn’s research gave IBM a foundation for some of its most important analytical systems, which is why he’s often called the “Father of Business Intelligence.”
Data Storage: A Big Push for BI
The rise of computers completely changed the game.
- In 1956, IBM built the hard disk, which became the new way to store information.
- Later came floppy disks, laser disks, and other storage formats. Each one made it easier to keep piling up data.
Eventually, this gave birth to the first database management systems, also known as DSS (Decision Support Systems). By the 1970s, a handful of companies were already building BI tools that let businesses access and organize their data.
The problem? Early systems were clunky. They were slow, inefficient, and tough to operate. Recognizing this, experts came together in 1988 at the Data Analysis Conference in Rome. That event turned out to be a big step toward simplifying how BI worked.
The Turning Point: 1980s and 1990s
After that 1988 conference, things moved quickly. In 1989, Howard Dresner, an analyst at Gartner, revived the term “business intelligence.” He used it as a broad label for everything around data storage and analysis — DSS, executive systems, and so on.
As more BI companies popped up, competition fueled new advances, especially in data warehousing. This was a game-changer:
- Data from different places could now be pulled together in one central system.
- Retrieving and analyzing info became much faster.
- Decision-making was no longer slowed down by scattered data.
What once took ages now happened in minutes or seconds. BI finally became something practical and usable for businesses of all sizes.
Wrapping Up
So, BI didn’t just appear overnight. It went from bankers spying on trends centuries ago to IBM scientists creating systems that could actually process massive amounts of information.
Today, BI is about more than just storing data. It’s about turning raw facts into insights you can act on, guiding strategy, reducing risks, and opening up opportunities.
