The Strategic Impact of Business Intelligence Tools: A Review of Decision-Making and Ambidexterity

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the use of Business Intelligence (BI) tools in supporting decision making processes at strategic, tactical and operational levels. In this study, the research data is collected from secondary sources including the academic developments, business reports, and case analysis to investigate the role of BI in enhancing the decision making, organizational ambidexterity, and strategic alignment in different business sectors. The research also shows that the use of BI tools enhances decision making accuracy and quickness, giving organizations valuable information for informed decision making. The present work also discusses how BI can help organizations to attain organizational ambidexterity, i.e., the ability to explore new markets while, at the same time, exploiting the existing ones. However, the analysis also finds that there are critical problems, including data integration, limited resources, and the search for an optimal balance between analytics and intuition. A comparison with other industries shows that while BI tools have a rather high potential, their efficiency strongly depends on the context and may require a unique approach to address the needs of a particular industry. This research work will also be useful to managers and other stakeholders in organizations in order to enhance their understanding on how to effectively integrate BI to gain competitive advantage in today’s business environment.