Evaluating the Impact of Critical Success Factors of Business Intelligence on Firm Performance

The paper examined the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on business intelligence and organisation performance. Today’s market place and space is one that is always evolving, revolving and the case of unpredictability which can be seen from the view of economic downturn from time to time. Based on this, organizations look for ways to improve the way they do business to keep ahead of the competition and increase revenue. Specifically, more insight can be gained, and even better decisions made, by coupling business relevant information with an easy-touse predictive analytics/ business solution. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of business intelligence on performance. The data came from the primary source with the aid of a structured questionnaire that was administered to the respondents. Quantitative analysis was carried out on the data related to the 115 organizations. Descriptive and inferential statistics was employed in analyzing the data. A systematic literary approach to data analysis is Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient which was used to test the hypotheses at 5% level of significance. The results of the analysis show that business intelligence actually has a positive impact on the overall performance outcome of the organizations. however, a detailed analysis suggests that the impact of the success factors is stronger with business analysis and analytics, which shows that business intelligence is not just tools or software as seen by many but includes other processes and methodologies which at the end of the day is more important for making better business decisions and providing higher value of outcome for the organization. The study therefore recommends that strategic management must demonstrate their commitment to business intelligence with resources, action, guidelines, and activities. It is also important for management to support continuous knowledge management, data analysis, data warehousing, data mining while also fostering a culture that constantly ensures the enshrinement of business intelligence practices. Keywords: Business Intelligence, Data Mining, Data Warehouse, Knowledge Management, Business Analytics