How "forgotten" verticals can join the BI revolution.
For those of us who work in tech, it's sometimes easy to forget that not everyone in the world is up to speed on the latest and greatest innovations -- including business intelligence. For someone like me, BI is so embedded into what I do every day that I use the phrase all the time. It's only when I meet people who aren't familiar with the concept that I have to take a step back and realize that it's not a part of the universal lexicon -- and it should be.
My company develops apps and software for the real estate industry, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that most of the people I talk with at major residential and commercial property companies aren't familiar with BI. I often have to take a few moments to explain what it is, how it works, and why it needs to be part of every property company's approach to managing the whole gamut of operations, including maintenance, inspections, and repairs.
I know this applies to plenty of other verticals. How can we explain BI to technologists and business leaders in industries where it's not commonly understood? I'll start by looking at something I know well -- the property management industry, which is agonizingly slow to adopt any new technology, much less BI, in part because:
These are the realities we live with every day. The good news is that when I really take the time to explain BI, people just get it. Here are three tips for talking about business intelligence to people who aren't already using it.
One reason BI can be hard to fathom is because its value can seem abstract. To get the attention of pretty much anyone in my industry, I need to speak in terms of individual roles and responsibilities.
