9 examples of business intelligence use cases for companies

BI tools across the organization

BI tools ingest and analyze data from the organization's own systems and, when available, from external sources. The tools then display the analytics results in reports and BI dashboards. Users can also drill down on insights, exploring and analyzing underlying data at increasing levels of granularity.

These BI capabilities give business users a true picture of how the organization is performing -- as a whole and per function. They can also track and compare their performance against their competitors,  enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions rather than using intuition, personal experience or guesswork.

Workers throughout an organization -- from the C-suite to the frontline staff -- use BI to understand how the business performs. In addition to providing insights that help executives with strategic decisions, BI tools also give executives comprehensive performance metrics across departments or regions, said Josie Baik, vice president of data and AI at Globant, an IT and software development company.

Senior and mid-level managers use BI on an operational level to track progress against their company's strategic plan, Baik said. That helps them determine if they're ahead or behind schedule in meeting objectives. BI can identify inefficiencies and examine ways to optimize operations. For example, redesigning distribution routes to save fuel, thereby reducing costs and boosting sustainability.

BI helps organizations measure their performance, making it a critical capability for enterprises.

"To get measures and hold your business up to scrutiny, you need BI tools," said Kurt Schlegel, a vice president analyst at Gartner. "Companies need dimensions and measures to provide insights. There's no area in a business that doesn't need to know how it's doing."

9 common use cases for BI across an organization

BI tools support numerous tactical and strategic decisions across their operations. The following are examples of how organizations use BI capabilities.

1. Track KPIs and other metrics

Tracking KPIs with BI is "table stakes" for organizations now, Schlegel said.

Dozens, even hundreds, of KPIs are impossible to track and understand without aid. This is where BI shines: identifying relevant KPIs and incorporating additional data points for context.

BI and data analysts, as well as regular business users, can use BI tools to assess how influential data points affect KPIs.

2. Accelerate and improve business decision-making

Better decision-making is another standard BI use case within the enterprise, ranking alongside tracking KPIs, said Rayna Xu, assistant professor of information systems and analytics at Miami University's Farmer School of Business.

BI combines data mining, data analysis and data visualization to offer a comprehensive view of enterprise data. That information helps executives and managers make business decisions based on organizational, market and customer trends, rather than relying on manual data collection.

Real-time BI and analytics capabilities can also aid decision-making. Examples include:

• Understanding customer buying trends.
• Comparing the success of customer engagement programs.
• Measuring customer lifetime value.

Business leaders can then decide how to proceed in those areas. This influences long-term business strategies. Xu said venture capital firms use BI to analyze data from several sources to find startups likely to turn a profit within a specific timeline to prioritize investments.

3. Optimize business processes to increase productivity

Operational data volumes can be so vast that trends aren't obvious. BI technologies -- including embedded analytics tools -- can pull reams of data from ERP systems and other applications to uncover operational issues.

BI tools can identify inefficiencies in manufacturing processes, bottlenecks in the supply chain and unbalanced IT networks. Xu said manufacturers use BI tools to analyze machine performance on factory floors and production lines to identify slower machines, determine why they're lagging and focus on ways to increase output.

4. Analyze customer data to improve marketing and sales programs

Customer data is critical for any marketing and sales teams. To improve outreach, organizations must enhance the customer experience (CX) and increase sales by understanding customer behavior. BI analyzes data from multiple internal and external sources, offering in-depth insights into the needs, preferences and buying patterns of existing and potential customers.

The BI-generated insights reduce guesswork and assumptions. With it, organizations can lower marketing and sales costs while boosting revenue by:

• Designing more effective marketing campaigns.
• Developing targeted sales pitches and promotional offers.
• Creating products and services that match customer needs.

"The biggest contribution from BI is helping to know your customer, their purchase behavior and their pattern of engagement or disengagement," said Shan Duggatimatad, global data and AI-enabled analytics leader at Randstad Digital.

5. Aid executives in strategic planning

Strategic planning is another core BI use case, Baik said, as its tools give executives visibility into "areas of success or concern" across their entire landscape -- cross-functionally, departmentally and regionally -- for a comprehensive view.

"[BI] allows executives to see what's going on with the organization -- to see areas of growth or innovation. It gives them that strategic view," Baik said.

Moreover, BI tools offer organizations a look at their market. Rapidly changing market dynamics can require companies to adjust their focus and business quickly, said Bipin Prabhakar, chairperson of the information systems graduate programs at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in Bloomington.

Economic and weather forecasts give executives a more comprehensive view of future conditions. This capability is critical for organizations that want to remain competitive in today's digital world.

6. Identify problem areas in business operations

Organizations commonly use BI to detect problem areas within their operations. A company can examine its profit by geography to determine which locations perform well and which lag. They can query data further to reveal what factors -- such as varying productivity rates -- cause performance differences.

"The analytics can show where there is an issue with efficiency in the operations or to find out where in a workflow something went wrong or why a process takes so long," Xu said.

Additionally, BI tools can help companies determine how to address the problems they uncover, Schlegel said. He further stated that a company falling short of its customer retention goals can use BI capabilities to determine if departing customers left due to service, cost or other issues. BI tools can then predict the probability of better retention rates based on various interventions and actions.

"There is some real insightful analysis that provides diagnostics on how to improve," Schlegel added.

7. Support quality control efforts

Similarly, BI supports quality control, Prabhakar said. It can spotlight anomalies in products that indicate a problem with quality. It can also monitor processes and KPIs in workflows to surface service concerns.

Prabhakar added that BI platforms let users delve into the data to pinpoint where and why problems occur to enable quick resolutions to maintain the quality of the organization's products or services.

8. Detect fraudulent activities

Fraud detection is another common BI use case, especially in financial services, said Peter Mottram, managing director of the technology consulting practice at Protiviti.

BI systems, supported by machine learning algorithms, monitor activities to identify and understand patterns and anomalies that indicate fraud. Those systems can generate dashboards and alerts for analysts to take quick action. Furthermore, BI systems in conjunction with automation can act in real-time to block suspected fraudulent activities.

9. Uncover hidden insights in data sets

Mature organizations use BI to help find data insights that humans can't spot on their own. For example, they might use BI to identify new business risks to address, Baik said.

BI might also identify previously undetected patterns or trends in a data set, she said. Organizations can use this information to gain a competitive advantage over business rivals.

"There are also some happy accidents when you use BI tools to investigate data," she added.

Baik said software vendors know they can't predict every way customers use a product. They use BI to study unexpected usage and develop new features to improve their products.

BI's ability to uncover hidden insights might be one of the most valuable use cases of all, Baik said.

How BI benefits organizations

BI helps organizations reach their goals and objectives, such as improved CX, increased operational efficiency and more consistent product quality. Those outcomes deliver various benefits to the organization.

The following are key business benefits generated by an effective BI strategy. These cover all of an organization's departments and business units.

• A positive return on data investments. Many organizations have seen less-than-stellar returns on their long-term investments in data programs. But as BI use matures, ROI improves. This motivates further BI investment in data programs. They also seek new opportunities to put their data to work, powering more automation and AI uses. "The most important thing business intelligence helps us do is turn data into an asset for the organization," Baik said.
• An improved financial position. Organizations using BI to increase workflow efficiency, optimize operations or identify growth opportunity trends can expect to lower costs and increase revenue. "BI is definitely important because it can help companies make more money," Xu said.
• A competitive advantage in the market. Organizations that use BI effectively tend to have a stronger market position than those that underutilize it or do not use it efficiently. "With the fast pace of digital transformation today and data now so widely available, gaining that advantage is becoming more and more important," Xu said. "Business intelligence is becoming more important for companies to maintain their competitive edge."

Editor's Note: This article was updated by Informa TechTarget editors in November 2025 for timeliness and to add new information.

Mary K. Pratt is an award-winning freelance journalist with a focus on covering enterprise IT and cybersecurity management.