Businesses, whether it big or small can indeed benefit from analyzing their business data in order to help them make informed decisions to drive growth as well as profitability. However, several small, as well as medium enterprises, are rather often hesitant to make use of business intelligence (BI) solutions as they feel they are a small company and do not really need them and have no budget for BI tools.
SME entrepreneurs actually need not worry as there several inexpensive and even free BI software alternatives that can be made use.
Trends in Business Intelligence
Current industry trends do indicate how the adoption of BI in organizations is indeed on the rise with the wider availability of BI software as well as the development of advanced solutions in order to handle big data.
Several business processes are indeed already becoming automated, thus as sending newsletters to customers, creating weekly sales reports, and also gathering social media feedback. As a result, productivity, as well as efficiency, are on the increase thus allowing SMEs to gain a firmer foothold in the market.
Some of the main BI trends that do give us an idea of what the future will be like for businesses of all sizes are the following:
- Customization for rather easier analysis – with the greater BI tool availability as well as easy use, everyone can indeed and also become a data analyst. BI tools are thus allowing for greater customization, thus enabling even the average user to gain insights into business data analyses.
- Visualization becomes key –Data does become more visual with the use of BI tools, thus allowing users to create great-looking graphs, charts as well as infographics.
- More in the cloud – Cloud computing, including big data as well as BI analysis, will be more widely adopted throughout various fields
- Use in different fields – BI will see greater use in the fields where it can indeed be very useful in, such as financial analytics; SEO and web analytics; ICT management; human resources; and sales, marketing, and customer relations.
Top Benefits of Business Intelligence to SMEs
Business intelligence tools do have several advantages for small and medium enterprises.
- BI software does provide answers to critical business questions quickly. BI tools enable SME entrepreneurs to get hold of relevant data from unstructured data pools and thus run these through analytical tools. They then make use of the results to make business decisions. Entrepreneurs can also quickly as well as easily have access to customer and contact lists, sales data, along with other BI content any time they do require it.
- BI empowers team members. With BI tools, every member of the team can also become a decision-maker and even small businesses with minimum human resources can benefit.
- BI solutions save time. BI software allows for automation and saves time for SMEs which usually spend time on data entry and other manual tasks that are rather prone to human error. With BI tools, employees can, of course, spend less time on repetitive, boring tasks and allow more time for other tasks that do require creativity as well as critical thinking.
- BI software provides SMEs having more accurate client profiles. SMEs will no doubt find audience targeting much easier on account of BI tools. Through several online channels, BI software can indeed gather customer data, thus allowing entrepreneurs to be able to identify perfect buyers. They can also bring their products and services to their target market in the most efficient way in order to boost sales and thus increase profit.
- BI tools help SMEs identify where ever they can cut costs. If one has very limited funds. Operational costs have to be taken care of and brought down. Bi tools enable entrepreneurs to make better budget plans as well as allocate funds judiciously.
- BI solutions do provide insights into trends. With BI software, SMEs can identify industry trends early on, thus going ahead of competitors.
- Business intelligence does provide entrepreneurs with insights into real-time business performance. With BI tools, SME entrepreneurs will rather be able to track customer satisfaction, profitability, sales, and grow revenue in real-time
- BI software presents data in a format that is easier to understand. Not all entrepreneurs hold business degrees or are able to understand columns of numbers at a glance, and this is where BI tools come in. BI software does come with advanced visual features that do show analysis results and other BI content in the form of easy-to-understand charts, graphs, infographics, and other visuals. By actually presenting data in a graphic format rather than paragraphs of plain text, BI software does allow entrepreneurs to understand business data more quickly.
- BI software facilitates easier cooperation and collaboration. With BI solutions, SME team members will have a much easier time exporting as well as sharing data. For an SME constant communication, cooperation, and collaboration are important for business growth. All the members need to have easy access to relevant, up-to-date data and also make use of it in real time.
Tips for Choosing BI Tools for SMEs
How do does one choose a business intelligence solution for a small company?
One needs to choose BI software that is easy to learn and make use of–the best business intelligence tools for SMEs are those that do not require programming knowledge. Features, such as customized dashboards and ad hoc reporting, do need to be present.
- Look for BI software that does come with a built-in analytics function for studying the profitability as well as trends. This helps to make informed decisions on whether one can go through the project or not or come up with requiring solutions to follow up on marketing campaigns or profits.
- Choosing a BI tool that does allow one to create rather appealing visual representations of data. More investors will get attracted.
- Taking advantage of the cloud. If one’s BI software is connected to cloud-based data storage, then one will be able to access one’s data from a reliable internet connection.
- Comparing business intelligence tools does help. Several BI options are there for SMEs with limited budgets.
Business intelligence software is indeed for big players. SMEs can gain a lot from making use of BI tools in order to make critical business decisions for enterprise profitability and quick business growth. Also the Facebook sets a new task for AI
