[AISWorld] Question: What does intelligence mean in business intelligence?

[mmora at securenym.net]

I copy to public list for collecting more responses!

Dear colleague Zhaohao,
Thanks for additional comments. However, I differ on some of them. In BI,
none AI technology was promoted to be used ! (e.g. KBS, neural nets, fuzzy
logic systems, CBR, heuristic methods, or some KR mechanisms). BI was
totally based on dashboards and datawarehouses, so the I in BI is not
supported really by AI advances. Furthermore, AI arena is not aware of BI
topics (by searching them in AI journals).  On the other concept of I as
the seek for understanding the business landscape, we agree on it ! In the
military context, NATO defines it as: " Joint Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (JISR) is vital for all military operations. It
provides information and intelligence to decision-makers and
action-takers, helping them make informed, timely and accurate decisions.
While surveillance and reconnaissance can answer the questions “what,”
“when” and “where”, the combined elements from various intelligence
sources and disciplines provide the answers to “how” and “why”. When all
of this is combined, you create Joint ISR" (NATO website). The following
paper is a good example of using the I in this context! Liao, S. H., Sun,
B. L., & Wang, R. Y. (2003). A knowledge-based architecture for planning
military intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Space Policy,
19(3), 191-202. So, the I in BI is totally linked to the I phase of
Simon's decision-making process.
Manuel




>>>>>
Dear Manuel,

Thank you for your answer to the I of BI. "The I in BI concept is related
with the I concept from the Simon's classic decision-making process (I,
desing, choice). It is not originated from the AI field. Other origin is
the I concept in military context (from dr.manuel.mora.uaa at gmail.com to me
on 25 07 16)"

To my knowledge. In Simon's classic decision making process, Intelligence
means that managers examine a situation, then identify and define the
problem. It is the first stage for the decision making. Therefore, I
doubts that Intelligence is motivated by Simon's model.

The earliest known use of the term "Business Intelligence" is in Richard
Millar Devens’ in the ‘Cyclopædia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes’
from 1865 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence). The
ability to collect and react accordingly based on the information
retrieved was the intelligence in BI at that time, it is still at the very
heart of BI. Intelligence at that time is a kind of wisdom. This is
similar to what One of my friends (Deidré Kleynhans of University of South
Africa) told me that intelligence is to gain information from data
processing for decision making.

The original idea was introduced in 1958 by IBM researcher Hans Peter
Luhn, he employed the Webster's dictionary definition of intelligence:
"the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in
such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal." ( H P Luhn (1958).
"A Business Intelligence System". IBM Journal 2 (4): 314.
doi:10.1147/rd.24.0314.). AI was introduced in 1956. Therefore, there is a
certainly relation between AI and I in BI taking into account the relation
between IBM and MIT.

In 1989, Howard Dresner (later a Gartner analyst) proposed "business
intelligence" as an umbrella term to describe "concepts and methods to
improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems."[7]
It was not until the late 1990s that this usage was widespread. At that
time, AI in general, expert systems and decision support systems in
specific had been very widespread. Therefore intelligence of BI has close
relation with intelligence in AI. If intelligence in AI refers to 
emulating human intelligence using ICT, then intelligence of BI is to
emulate human intelligence in business using ICT.


Best regards
Sun


On Sun, July 24, 2016 2:59 am, Manuel Mora wrote:
> Dear colleague Dr. Sun, the I in BI concept is related with the I concept
>  from the Simon's classic decision-making process (I, desing, choice). It
> is not origined from the AI field. Other origin is the I concept in
> military context. Dr. Mora On Jul 24, 2016 4:34 AM, "Zhaohao Sun"
> <zhaohao.sun at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>> I do not know
>>
>>
>> what are characteristics of business intelligence? what intelligence
>> mean in business intelligence?
>>
>> where (books and journals) have the scholarly answer to these
>> questions.
>>
>> Please help me to provide a scholarly answer to these two questions.
>>
>>
>> Background: I have lectured business intelligence in a few countries
>> including Australia for more than a decade. I also published many papers
>> in peer-referred journals and books. Recently, a friend told me that
>> there are many characteristics of business intelligence. I believe that
>> what intelligence mean in business intelligence  is a major issue.
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>>
>> Sun
>> -----------------------
>>
>>
>> Dr. Zhaohao Sun, Ph.D.
>>
>>
>> Associate Professor
>>
>>
>> HoD (Chair)
>>
>>
>> Department of Business Studies
>>
>>
>> PNG University of Technology, Lae, PNG
>>
>>
>> Phone: +675 473 4406
>>
>>
>> Email: zsun at dbs.unitech.ac.pg <zsun at dbs.initech.ac.pg> or
>> zhaohao.sun at gmail.com (private)
>>
>> &
>>
>>
>> Honorary Senior Research Fellow
>>
>>
>> School of Engineering and Information Technology
>>
>>
>> Federation University Australia, P.O. Box 663, Ballarat, Vic 3353,
>> AUSTRALIA
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