Business Intelligence (BI) is a business management term, which refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to, and analyze data and information about company operations.  BI systems can help companies have a more comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting their business, such as metrics on sales, production, internal operations, and they can help companies to make better decisions.

Where Web Analytics services are working with high volume, clean data, the resulting information becomes invaluable.  The ability to analyze and compare activities, determine marketing trends, to view behavior, and maximize your marketing dollars is what it is all about.

Most people seem to think that Web Analytics and Business Intelligence are separate and almost competing systems.   Perhaps this was caused by the size and dynamics needed for data bases that capture many dimensions of data across many Web page views.  Traditionally, Web Analytics has been used to measure behavior and attitude.  The “meat” from BI is in the opinion surveys, satisfaction surveys and On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) applications doing trend analysis etc.  

The real value is in using Web Analytics with Business Intelligence is to develop creative ways to bring products to market that help build brand credibility.  Currently, most web marketers are just concerned with getting more people to view ads.   There is some hope on the horizon that Web Analytics with eventually feed data to the BI data warehouses.  Flexible reporting within Web Analytics systems allows for semi-automated feeds today.

The bottom line is that the information you glean from your visitors and customers will determine the future of your business.  If you are not analyzing the statistics and trends, start doing it today.  If you are just counting visitors, start using the other valuable tools that come with your Web Analytics systems.