In the aftermath of the Great Recession, an economy that is growing but uncertain has lead to greater caution and thrift among consumers. As a result, even as many small-to-midsized businesses plan for growth, they continue to look for ways to improve efficiency and cut costs.
Small-to-midsized businesses increasingly realize that having the right information and the tools to analyze that information are critical to making business decisions that can drive growth and improve productivity. Today, more information than ever is available about companies’ internal operations. This information is a by-product of companies’ successful efforts to automate their operations.
Business intelligence (BI) solutions provide a way to harness this ever-increasing information in a way that allows companies to make better, smarter decisions of all types and ultimately outpace their competition. As a result, BI has emerged as one of the top IT priorities for small-to-midsized businesses.
As BI solutions have evolved, they have become less expensive and easier to implement and deploy. Indeed, BI vendors today, facing stagnant and oversaturated enterprise markets, are increasingly shifting their focus to serving the small-to-midsized business market. This is good news for small-to-midsized businesses looking for BI solutions. Yet challenges remain in terms of information accessibility, ease of use, and implementation.
Download our whitepaper, Part 1: The Business Intelligence Landscape for Small and Midsized Businesses, to learn how business intelligence can help your company achieve its full potential.