What functionality do business intelligence tools provide to stakeholders?

Business intelligence tools are designed to aggregate and analyze data to provide insights that stakeholders can use to make informed decisions. These tools pull data from various sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, and external data streams, and then process that information to identify trends, patterns, and relationships. This analysis enables stakeholders—such as managers and executives—to understand business performance, forecast future trends, and make strategic decisions based on empirical evidence rather than intuition alone.

The ability to visualize data through dashboards, reports, and interactive analyses further enhances stakeholders' understanding of complex datasets, leading to actionable insights. This functionality is crucial for organizations aiming to leverage their data effectively to drive growth and efficiency in their operations.

In contrast to limiting user access to data, which could hinder decision-making, or solely focusing on IT tasks, business intelligence tools are explicitly designed to empower all business stakeholders.