Editing Business intelligence (section)

==History==
The earliest known use of the term ''business intelligence'' is in Richard Millar Devens' ''Cyclopædia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes'' (1865). Devens used the term to describe how the banker [[Sir Henry Furnese, 1st Baronet|Sir Henry Furnese]] gained profit by receiving and acting upon information about his environment, prior to his competitors:
{{quote|Throughout Holland, Flanders, France, and Germany, he maintained a complete and perfect train of business intelligence. The news of the many battles fought was thus received first by him, and the [[Siege of Namur (1695)|fall of Namur]] added to his profits, owing to his early receipt of the news.|author=Devens |source=p.&nbsp;210}}

The ability to collect and react accordingly based on the information retrieved, Devens says, is central to business intelligence.<ref name="Miller Devens">{{cite book|last=Miller Devens|first=Richard|title=Cyclopaedia of Commercial and Business Anecdotes; Comprising Interesting Reminiscences and Facts, Remarkable Traits and Humors of Merchants, Traders, Bankers Etc. in All Ages and Countries|url=https://archive.org/details/cyclopaediacomm00devegoog|quote=business intelligence.|publisher=D. Appleton and company|access-date=15 February 2014|page=[https://archive.org/details/cyclopaediacomm00devegoog/page/n262 210]|year=1865}}</ref>

When [[Hans Peter Luhn]], a researcher at [[IBM]], used the term ''business intelligence'' in an article published in 1958, he employed the ''[[Webster's Dictionary]]'' definition of intelligence: "the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action towards a desired goal."<ref>
{{cite journal|url= http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/024/ibmrd0204H.pdf|doi=10.1147/rd.24.0314|title= A Business Intelligence System|author=Luhn, H. P. |author-link= Hans Peter Luhn |year= 1958 |journal= IBM Journal of Research and Development|volume= 2|issue= 4|pages= 314–319|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913121526/http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/024/ibmrd0204H.pdf|archive-date=2008-09-13}}
</ref> 

In 1989, Howard Dresner (later a [[Gartner]] analyst) proposed ''business intelligence'' as an [[umbrella term]] to describe "concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems."<ref name=power>{{cite web |url= http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html |title= A Brief History of Decision Support Systems, version 4.0 |access-date=10 July 2008 |author= D. J. Power |date= 10 March 2007|publisher= DSSResources.COM }}</ref> It was not until the late 1990s that this usage was widespread.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html |title=A Brief History of Decision Support Systems |last=Power |first=D. J. |access-date=1 November 2010 }}</ref>