How Business Intelligence Is Empowering Smes To Make Better Decisions

By Author: Bappaditta Jana
Total Articles: 89
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Although business intelligence(BI) is not a new concept, its adoption has grown exponentially in the last few decades. Organizations are increasingly acknowledging the importance of harnessing the power of data, especially when collecting a large amount of data from potential customers and other sources is the norm. Earlier, there was little effort to put that data to good use for the sake of their organization. Even today, while large companies have embraced various solutions to quickly track and analyze their voluminous data, things are a bit different for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

It is not that they do not understand the need to harness their data which is often left unused. The problem is that they don’t have adequate funds to hire IT specialists like large blue-chip companies. However, BI is now changing this scenario gradually but steadily. The revolutionary technology is now more affordable than ever before! For SMEs, there are now various tools powered by business intelligence to meet their needs. These are now empowering them to make better decisions. Let’s find out how it all unfolds.

Predictive ...
... analytics

Knowing the future beforehand will empower you, and similarly, the entrepreneurs. Doing business and making decisions became a lot easier! With BI, small businesses can now get rare insights from the vast pool of data, such as the likelihood of high sales of a particular product or service, customer buying patterns, and much more in a region or city of their business operations. When an SME has such insights, it becomes a cakewalk to plan cost-effective marketing strategies and better inventory management. It also helps to improve operational efficiency by mitigating possible risks. In a nutshell, business intelligence is not something that SMEs can ignore anymore. Predictive analytics offered by BI tools are enabling them to make error-free decisions. Nowadays, small business owners no longer want to rely on their gut feeling or half-baked conventional reports to make business decisions.

Improved data visualization

Business intelligence tools are now equipped with fantastic features like an intuitive dashboard where data can be represented via charts, graphs, and gauges. This is making a substantial difference in decision-making as business owners can visualize their data for the first time! They can make meaning out of their vast unstructured data that otherwise serve little purpose. Earlier, this data was presented before them in rows and columns as is done in conventional reports. Often rare insights that can prove useful to them to know historical sales trends and much more things that were entirely unknown to them. So, BI is offering them data visualization that is ultimately helping them to make informed decisions based on facts. Some of the BI-powered tools are so easy to use that even a non-technical personal can analyze the data presented on the dashboard to make a decision.

Thus business intelligence is empowering SMEs to make better decisions in several ways. The need of the hour is that they should opt for the right BI tool as per their industry or business domain.

Bappaditta Jana is a blogger who loves to spend his free time engaging in sports or gardening. Based in Kolkata, he is currently working with EasyReports an IT firm that has developed a BI reporting tool that can easily integrate with Tally ERP and many other applications.