Decision making in the business world is always important and often difficult. There's a lot of information to consider, regardless of industry or size. That's why the importance of Business Intelligence for small companies has grown.
The concept of BI is relatively recent, but it has already gained a lot of strength in the market. It consists of a series of tools and practices aimed at gathering data and facilitating decision making. And contrary to what you might think, this is not a privilege of any big company. Any entrepreneur can take advantage of this method to grow their business. To understand more, continue reading.
BI IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES
Like any new feature, entering Business Intelligence for small businesses involves certain challenges. However, there is no reason to be intimidated. Being aware of these initial difficulties will help you be prepared.
Here are three examples of these challenges:
1. LACK OF SPECIALIZED PROFESSIONALS
For a BI system to be correctly installed and maintained within a company, it is necessary to have a well-structured and dedicated IT team. However, this is not always the case for small and medium-sized companies. Even though the service and tools provider can take on much of the technical work, a person in charge of their own organization is still needed to take care of the operation.
In some cases, it may be worth outsourcing this service, finding specialized professionals quickly. However, it is interesting to build a more structured team within your business over time.
2. EXCESSES AND DEFAULTS IN THE ACQUISITION
When looking for Business Intelligence solutions for small businesses, many tend to go too far, or take no step at all. The benefits of these tools are really relevant, but they will only be optimized when the service meets the demands of the company.
Before looking for tools, resources and other components, try to first assess your company's demand. How many tools need to be integrated, what features need to be provided, etc. This can save you a lot of unnecessary expenses over time.
3. EXTENDED IMPLEMENTATION TIME
BI solutions don't start working overnight. It is necessary for a technical team to evaluate its structure, see how to better integrate its management tools, provide the necessary resources, etc. This means that the result may take a while to appear, depending on the size of your need.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE BENEFITS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES
1. MORE SIMPLICITY AND OBJECTIVITY
Many resource management systems rely on customization and the regular addition of functionality. Many companies can benefit from this, but the truth is that small businesses can be overwhelmed with all these tools, not knowing what to do with them.
At this point, a BI system is more interesting because it is simpler, direct and practical. With less functionality, you can focus on performance and core business protocols.
2. INTEGRATION OF DIFFERENT DATA SOURCES
As we already mentioned, Business Intelligence for small businesses is a data integration and analysis methodology. By measuring your main indicators, it's also important that you put them all under the same lens and compare them. The correlation between different information is one of the most important points for decision making within any business.
3. AUTOMATIC REPORT GENERATION
Automation is another big benefit of this method. Generating daily reports is important for analyzing the data, but it consumes time and resources unnecessarily. Also, when doing a system migration, all data also needs to be converted. A BI system, on the other hand, can display all the necessary data on demand, creating instant reports.
HOW TO MAKE THE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE APPLICATION FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
1. DEFINE ANALYSIS AND USABILITY NEEDS
The first step in any large project is to take note of what the current demands are. You can't devote months of company time and resources to installing a tool that doesn't match what your business needs. Therefore, it is important to assess the scope of the project and see which points are priority.
In an initial assessment, you should first look at the indicators that your BI system should analyze. Then check what functionality is needed by the team and how many people need access to the tool.
2. SEE THE POSSIBILITIES OF INTEGRATION WITH CURRENT TOOLS
Many resources, software and management tools can be leveraged when installing Business Intelligence for small businesses. Knowing which ones fit with the new system can save you from investing even more for the purchase of other tools unnecessarily.
Remember that it is not just the new system that must integrate with current tools. They also need to be integrated with each other. Check out how you can install without compromising too much of the framework you've already produced. This will surely save you even more time and resources.
3. PLAN TOOL IMPLEMENTATION TIME
We've already mentioned that deploying a BI tool can be a bit time-consuming. But if it is within the scope of your company, it should not exceed a certain time limit. Excessively time-consuming projects end up consuming more resources than they are capable of generating profitability.
To avoid this issue, set a timeout for the deployment. If the deadline is exceeded, you must either accept the result that was obtained or throw it all away and wait until you recover from the lost investment. It's better than insisting on loss.
4. CONTINUE UPDATING YOUR BI SYSTEM ACCORDING TO DEMAND
Considering that the system is active and on time, don't think that it will be the absolute end of your work. Every demand is updated over time and your tools must keep up with this pace. Always re-evaluate your performance and collect team feedback.
Now you know how and why to pursue Business Intelligence for small businesses. Do you want to keep following our news? So follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn to receive our best content first hand.
