{"id":650,"date":"2018-04-18T03:50:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T00:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kusuaks7\/?p=255"},"modified":"2025-08-04T13:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:13:12","slug":"bi-versus-oi-a-distinction-with-very-big-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/bigdata-cloud\/bi-versus-oi-a-distinction-with-very-big-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"BI versus OI: A Distinction with Very Big Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReady for Business Intelligence Training and Certification? Browse courses<\/a>\u00a0like\u00a0Gain Competitive Advantage using Microsoft Azure Data Platform and Cortana Analytics<\/a>\u00a0developed by industry thought leaders and Experfy in Harvard Innovation Lab.<\/em><\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs a reader of this blog, you are likely quite familiar with BI (Business Intelligence).\u00a0It has been a foundational element of enterprise computing for over thirty years, the mainstay of iconic companies like SAS, Cognos (now IBM), and BusinessObjects (now SAP).\u00a0And I expect you may also have heard of OI (Operational Intelligence), but I am willing to bet you do not have a clear sense of what precisely that latter term refers to.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLooking up\u00a0Operational Intelligence<\/em>\u00a0in Wikipedia does not help much.\u00a0\u00a0The definition there blurs the distinction between BI and OI by combining attributes from each.\u00a0I have reprinted it below with what I consider to be the BI attributes in\u00a0blue bold<\/strong>\u00a0and all the OI ones in\u00a0red italics<\/em>:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt is not that this definition is wrong.\u00a0It is just that it suppresses the differences between OI and BI, differences that are key for enterprise executives to understand.\u00a0I think we would all be better served, therefore, if we first began by defining Operational Intelligence in direct contrast to Business intelligence, along the following lines:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this context, BI is a highly evolved form of decision support software whereas OI is an emerging next-generation form of digital automation.\u00a0And that is a very big difference indeed.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt all begins with a distinction between\u00a0data\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0signals,\u00a0<\/em>something I discussed at length in a recent blog \u201cRecords versus Signals<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0Data, in this context, consists of certified recordings of explicitly intended transactions, the stuff we store in Systems of Record and audit at the end of a fiscal year.\u00a0Signals, by contrast, consist of logged detections of implicitly intended interactions, the stuff we find in the machine data that underlie Systems of Engagement and the Internet of Things.\u00a0The data in transaction records has been available to us for half a century via reports and queries, but it is only in the past few years, with the advent of hyper-low-cost computing and storage, that the signals in machine data logs have become an asset to be mined.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMining these two kinds of data drives two very different kinds of outcomes.\u00a0Using BI to mine Systems of Record data looks to improve \u201chuman-in-the-loop\u201d business processes by arming decision-makers with a higher quality of insights.\u00a0It answers questions like \u201cWho are our best customers?\u00a0What products are growing fastest?\u00a0Who is our most challenging competitor?\u201d\u00a0Its goal is to target markets, focus R&D, and position products to their best advantage.\u00a0These are considered decisions that are reviewed before they are implemented, an approach that aligns with long-term planning.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy contrast, using OI to mine machine data logs seeks to improve \u201chuman-above-the-loop\u201d processes\u2014ones in which humans do not execute the process but rather have governance over it.\u00a0Here the heavy lifting being done by computer algorithms responding in milli-seconds to real-time events, the goal being to field a response as quickly as possible with the highest probability of success.\u00a0What ad should I present to this user?\u00a0What discount should I offer this prospect?\u00a0What content should I block from view?\u00a0Here reviews happen\u00a0after<\/em>implementation, the goal being to course correct as quickly as possible, an approach that aligns with agile development.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStairway to Heaven<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNow, to be fair to our friends at Wikipedia, there is a continuum of analytic capabilities that connects these two poles, one that can be represented by an OI maturity model, or what I like to call a Stairway to Heaven, along the following lines:\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you look at the deployment of Operational Intelligence today, the vast majority of the use cases are on stairs 2 and 3, where IT organizations around the globe are using it to address cyber-security and IT operations challenges.\u00a0Indeed, without OI most of our global IT systems simply could not operate.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThat said, all the business disruption that is driving digital transformation across industry after industry is due to a few companies exploiting the two stairs at the top with brutal effectiveness.\u00a0All the BI in the world will not help retailers in their battle with Amazon, cab companies in their battle with Uber, or cable TV in its battle with Netflix.\u00a0For that they need to get to the top of the OI Stairway to Heaven as fast as they possibly can.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Business Intelligence (BI) has been a foundational element of enterprise computing for over thirty years. you may also have heard of Operational Intelligence (OI). BI is a highly evolved form of decision support software whereas OI is an emerging next-generation form of digital automation. And that is a very big difference indeed.  Using BI to mine Systems of Record data looks to improve “human-in-the-loop” business processes by arming decision-makers with a higher quality of insights. By contrast, using OI to mine machine data logs seeks to improve “human-above-the-loop” processes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[94],"ppma_author":[1807],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigdata-cloud","tag-data-science"],"authors":[{"term_id":1807,"user_id":278,"is_guest":0,"slug":"geoffrey-moore","display_name":"Geoffrey Moore","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Moore","first_name":"Geoffrey","job_title":"","description":"Geoffrey Moore is Managing Director, Geoffrey Moore ConsultingVenture Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Wildcat Venture Partners, Chairman Emeritus, TCG Advisors, Chasm Institute<\/a> and The Chasm Group<\/a>, and Member of the Board of Directors of several pre-IPO Companies. An author, speaker, and advisor, he splits his consulting time between start-up companies in the Mohr Davidow and Wildcat Venture Partners portfolios and established high-tech enterprises, including Salesforce, Microsoft, Intel, Box, Aruba, Cognizant, and Rackspace. He gives between 50 and 80 speeches a year. "}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38006,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/38006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}