Data that traditionally had been stored in multiple places was now all in a single location.Īlong with this development came supplemental facets of data warehousing that are staples of BI today. This new tool improved the flow of data as it moved from operational systems to decision support.ĭata warehousing drastically cut the time it took to access data. He employed it as a general term to cover the cumbersome-sounding names for data storage and data analysis, names like DSS and executive information system (EIS).Ĭompetition from more vendors in the field led to advances including data warehouses. In 1989 Gartner analyst Howard Dresner again brought the phrase “ business intelligence” into the common vernacular. The modern phase of business intelligence began immediately after the 1988 conference. The Multiway Data Analysis consortium, held in Rome, was a landmark in simplifying BI analysis. Most importantly, it was very difficult to use.Ī 1988 international conference aimed to streamline data processes. By the 1970’s a few BI vendors popped up with tools that made accessing and organizing this data possible.īut it was a new and clumsy technology. This spawned the creation of the first database management systems, collectively referred to as decision support systems (DSS). Floppy discs, laser discs, and other storage technologies meant that just as more and more data was being created, so too were there more and more places to store it. IBM’s invention of the hard disk in 1956 revolutionized data storage. With the advent of computers in the business world, companies finally had an alternative to storing data on paper.
Today, he is popularly recognized as the “Father of Business Intelligence.” Advancements and Evolution into the late 1980’s His research established methods that were built upon to create some of IBM’s touchstone analytical systems. Luhn’s work did more than introduce and expand the possibilities of a concept. Luhn also cited Websters Dictionary definition of intelligence: “the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal.”Įssentially, this cut to the core of what BI is: a way to quickly and easily understand huge amounts of information so that the best possible decisions can be made. The article, titled “A Business Intelligence System”, described “an automatic system…developed to disseminate information to the various sections of any industrial, scientific, or government organization.” In the wake of the post-World War II boom, such sectors required a way to organize and simplify the rapidly growing mass of technological and scientific data. It was with the 1958 publication of a landmark article on the subject, written by IBM computer scientist Hans Peter Luhn, that the potential of BI was recognized. Technology did not advance to the point where it could be considered an agent of business intelligence until well into the 20th century. The idea of gathering information on business conditions, however, was a seed that would grow. “The news…was thus received first by him.”įurnese ultimately used this advance knowledge to duplicitous ends and became renowned as a corrupt financier. “Throughout Holland, Flanders, France, and Germany, he maintained a complete and perfect train of business intelligence,” Devens writes of Furnese. Richard Miller Devens’ 1865 work, Cyclopaedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes contains the first known usage of the term “ business intelligence.” He uses it to describe the way that a banker, Sir Henry Furnese, succeeded: he had an understanding of political issues, instabilities, and the market before his competitors.
Today it’s understood as a set of analyses that derive value and insight from data. Business intelligence existed before technology.