Business intelligence (BI) refers to collecting, structuring, analyzing, and leveraging data to provide useful information for decision making. BI transforms raw data into meaningful insights through methods, processes, technologies, and applications. It involves gathering data from various sources, storing the data in databases or data warehouses, analyzing the data, and providing access to information through reports, dashboards, and data visualization tools. The goal of BI is to help organizations make more effective strategic, tactical, and operational decisions based on data-driven insights.