The Historical Roots of Business Intelligence

According to Business Intelligence and Data Analytics software vendor Phocas, using data to make business decisions can be traced back to the 1800s with Florence Nightingale pioneering the use of applied statistics to create visual ways of displaying data. However, things got really interesting at the beginning of the computer age in the 1960’s when the first super computer applications were designed to process transactions. From there, varying degrees of computer software developers designed programs to assist managers in making fact-based decisions.

Fast-forward to 1989 and the term “Business Intelligence” is coined by Howard Dresner, and can be defined as “a broad category of applications, technologies, and processes for gathering, storing, accessing, and analyzing data to help business users make better decisions.” This presentation is the first in a series by Phocas, in which they outline the history of Business Intelligence, from inception to modern-day innovation.