In my reading I recently came across the concept of the Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy. While it is perhaps loosely defined, I see the concept as a helpful way to illustrate the progression from raw data to actionable information (requiring wisdom to handle it correctly). There are valid criticisms of this model, but it does reflect the goal of collecting and managing data - turning it into something that allows business users to make wise decisions.

So how do we get our business customers from data (which is available in quantities so big they are difficult to grasp) to knowledge and wisdom? Let's consider the illustration of buying a house.

It was a great 3 days at the Gartner BI Summit and I thoroughly enjoyed attending a conference dedicated solely to Business Intelligence.  It was great to experience the general BI sessions while also getting to sit in on some of the healthcare vertical sessions and hear about the specific BI challenges that the healthcare industry is dealing with.  If you were not able to attend, below is my interpretation of the major trends that were discussed: