Business information refers to all materials that are part of a company’s operations. This includes information released to the media by corporations and material used by experts who analyze market and investment trends.
A major in business information management at UC Irvine teaches students how to balance sound business practices and complex computer systems. Effective management of these systems can reduce unseen profit leakage, administrative costs, ad hoc IT project expenses and regulatory risk.
Public Corporations
A public corporation is a business entity set up by government to carry out some specific public work or function. It is usually established in industries that are highly regulated and where profit motive is not a consideration such as electricity and gas etc.
These corporations are owned, managed and funded by the government of the country but have a flexibility like the private sector and authority like that of the civil service. They are usually governed by special laws stipulated in their acts that determine their functions and relations with the ministry and parliament.
They are supervised by the Board of Directors which is appointed by the government and have members from all groups including civil servants. This leads to conflict of interests between different representatives and the efficiency of the corporation suffers. The senior officials of these corporations can be summoned by the parliament and also presented with their annual reports. This helps them to be under judicial control and prevents them from exploiting consumers.
Privately-Held Companies
Privately-held companies are business ventures whose shares are not publicly traded. These businesses rely on private investments from a small group of investors or owners and may also borrow funds from lenders. Privately-held companies can be corporations, partnerships or sole proprietorships. Privately-held businesses account for the majority of small businesses in the United States.
The benefits of privately-held companies include greater control and autonomy, as well as confidentiality. Since these businesses don’t need to comply with SEC regulations, they can keep financial information confidential and focus on operational decisions that benefit the company in the long run.
There is a growing need for business intelligence on privately-held companies, as investors and potential clients are seeking out this type of information. Fortunately, there are a number of business intelligence tools available for these purposes. One such tool, PrivCo, tracks non-publicly-traded US businesses and provides profiles and financial data. This tool is available to current JHU affiliates with a valid JHU e-mail address.
Competitive Intelligence
A form of market research focused on answering specific questions, competitive intelligence is used by startups and others that need to adapt quickly to the marketplace. Unlike the more general market research that goes into product development, competitive intelligence is more tactical and helps companies understand how to respond to short-term business challenges like pricing issues or how to get their message across to consumers.
CI practices include ethically researching, monitoring and analyzing information from public and private sources such as competitor websites, the news, social media, industry experts, surveys, conferences, government documents, company earnings reports and public filings. The goal is to identify and understand trends in your competitors’ management decisions and their impact on market prospects.
Having a competitive intelligence program set up is key to staying one step ahead of your competitors. For this to be successful, it should be a regular activity that is not just done when you need something. For example, if your sales team wants to know more about a specific product feature, make sure your CI program can deliver that info in the format they need, such as battle cards or visual reporting breakdowns.
Business Data
Business data can encompass a variety of different types of information. It can include anything from detailed sales reports to accounting notices and marketing analytics details. It can also include communications such as business emails and records of customer inquiries.
Companies use business information to help improve their products, services and operations. It helps them identify areas where they can trim expenses and increase efforts to earn more revenue.
Another important use of business information is to identify and mitigate risk. For example, a company may collect information about its suppliers’ performance so that it can monitor risks like product quality or availability.
A well-managed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is key for collecting and interpreting business information. This information is then used to support strategy, decision making and day-to-day operations. Business information is also the foundation of a growing number of predictive analytics solutions for improving profitability and operational efficiency. For more information on how to implement and optimize an ERP solution, contact the expert team at Intraversed. more