Never has it been so accessible for small businesses to transform data into future business decisions. Business Intelligence tools were usually associated with large companies, but with technological advances, there are several handy tools for small businesses to use as well. Large data information can be deemed useless when it is not utilized to its fullest potential. Self-serve business intelligence tools have become simplified; it no longer requires an IT department to help turn your data into insightful strategies.
Here, we want to showcase how BI can create a notable difference in data collection and analyzation.
1. Data Visualization
Humans generally process and understand information better when it’s visually generated. Data visualization with a business intelligence tool (BI) help engages the user and audience much easier than slides on PowerPoint or a spread sheet in Excel. Although PowerPoint and Excel continue to be important tools, their interactive options are limited. With interactive dashboards, data becomes easier to digest, and it provides numerous options for technical adjustment and attractive visualizations. Without spending a great deal of time designing graphs, the tool generates and displays inviting charts for you and your audience.
2. Combining and Comparing Various Data Sources
Even a small business can have multiple sources of data and the data may be small, but it can be complex. BI tools has the power to gather data from various sources like Excel, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Azure, local libraries and even Facebook. With numerous graphs and charts from different data sources, BI solutions, like PowerBI, will bring all the graphs and charts together and combine the data contained within them, without any preparation needed. This means BI tools allow you to compare and analyze all your sources online, all in one place.
3. Real-Time Data and Cooperation
One of the reason why Business Intelligence is essential is that it provides you with real time data instantly, presenting it on your personal devices. This gives your business a competitive advantage, as data can be collected and analyzed to add insight to your next action plan without IT support.
Especially where a single person holds multiple positions in a small business, it is crucial you can access specific data, even if it exceeds your immediate level of expertise. Providing data access wherever you or your employees are keeps everyone on the same page.
Study shows that telecommute has grew 115% since 2005, according to Global Workspace Analytics. While working from home is greatly beneficial, it is necessary to have a BI solution to keep your team on track and have data accessible anywhere. Do you want to make better use out of your data? Are you collecting the right data? Are you overwhelmed with the amount of data that you have? We can help. It's time to make the Change Connect call.
