Business intelligence can sometimes be viewed as a solution for large companies. The truth is, business intelligence can and does help companies of all sizes. And as analyst firms such as Aberdeen Group point out, small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) are embracing business intelligence and analytics as a way to better understand and better manage their organization.
In the not-so-recent past, business intelligence and analytics were the domain of a small realm of really smart IT people somewhere within a large enterprise. They had the combined knowledge and skills to coax vital raw data to feed analytics out of esoteric, complex, fragile and unfriendly ERP applications.
Today, that realm of business intelligence and analytics has expanded greatly beyond some small group with Mensa-level intelligence. Now, through the work of many, many business intelligence leaders, business intelligence and analytics are being used throughout companies, large and small, to support decision making.
OK, and how does that impact Twitter and its revenue? Let’s step back and look at the IT industry a few years ago.
Anyone who lived through the dot-com/dot-bomb era knows how vital revenues are to a business. Pick your favorite Superbowl-advertising, foosball furnished rec room, hip business and it most likely has the same story: great, good, or OK idea; inject venture capital (VC) funding; spend VC money; forget to consider revenues over hype, valuation and cool factor.
We can’t deny Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites are cool, but are they earning revenue?
According to news reports, Twitter will soon offer paid features, one of which is analytics. This means Twitter views the ability to provide its customers with analytics – far beyond who’s following you and who responded – will be of enough value to Tweeters that customers will pay for this information.
If anyone doubted the potential value of analytics in the past, they probably don’t now. After all, delivering analytics appears to be part of Twitter’s strategic, revenue-generating business plan. And analytics are a key component of business intelligence.
Kelley Kassa
Spotfire Blogging Team
