Bringing AI to business intelligence and analytics

Abstract: Today, the use of business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) is an important factor to the success of organizations. There is a need to effectively analyze data in order to gain a competitive advantage and not lose its place in the market. With digitalization the amounts of data are rapidly increasing, leading to new challenges for to be able to handle it in a cost-effective way. At the same time, the use of AI is predicted to disrupt BI&A as it can automate the process of data. However, the effect AI can have on the value of BI&A is still unclear. Thus, this research explores how AI can contribute to the value of BI&A. In order to answer this, a qualitative study was performed with consultants currently working with BI&A today. The findings of the study show that while AI can contribute with making BI&A more efficient in handling data and enable more advanced analytics, there is a general lack of maturity in organizations. The result also showed that there is overall a low understanding in what AI is and how it can be used. Nevertheless, we can conclude that AI is becoming a part of bigger part of BI&A.