Initial proposal for thesis topic Topic: Benefits of business intelligence in the retail sector: a case study of three companies carried out in Delhi and NCR. Context: what is business intelligence?Business intelligence (BI) is the process of gathering enough of the right information in the right way at the right time and delivering the right results to the right people for decision-making purposes so that it can continue to produce real business benefits or have a positive impact on business strategy, tactics and operations in businesses. Business intelligence is an established and generally well-known category of software that spans a broad range of functional capabilities. Business Intelligence systems are a step above knowledge management systems. While specific definitions will vary from customer to customer and vendor to vendor, most will agree that business intelligence typically refers to the challenge of providing business users with meaningful information from enterprise data sources to help those users take better and more informed business decisions. BI applications include online analytical processing (OLAP), decision support systems (DSS), data warehousing, and data mining. Business intelligence includes the following functions: • Gathering and refining information from many sources • Analyzing and presenting information in useful ways • Empowering people to make better business decisions Importance of the Study: Retail companies need to answer key questions everyday. What impact do price changes have on purchasing behavior? Is the supply chain aligned with consumer demand? While companies have data that can answer these questions, few companies adequately leverage all of their resources. A company must first extract tangible information and then ensure it gets into the right hands. To run business effectively and efficiently, a company must convert its data into knowledge. Fundamentally, a company's execution problems arise from the misuse of data due to lack of visibility. A strategic Business Intelligence platform puts the right information in the right hands at the right time and gives managers and executives the ability to test various scenarios for business spending and investments, while monitoring important operational drivers of business performance. Problem Statement: Management information is the lifeblood of any business, but some businesses have more complex needs than others. Retail, in particular, presents complex issues and challenges to vendors and consumers of business intelligence software. In this thesis, I want to take a look at what makes retail unique and identify some of the challenges faced by retailers in successfully adopting business intelligence techniques and systems.