MNC, SME or solopreneur - everyone wants their business to thrive. It’s often said that data is “the key” to doing so, but what does that look like?
Many business owners find themselves puzzling over what data is important, how to gather it, and what to do with it. If so, you might want to find out more about Business Intelligence.
What does Business Intelligence really mean?
Business Intelligence (BI) is a broad term that involves finding insights within data and making it actionable. Essentially, it tries to make sense of all the raw, messy data and use it to chart a better course for the business.
For most Malaysian SMEs, you’re likely translating your data manually. Think of your spreadsheets as your data warehouse, and your staff as the analysts. Feasible? Yes. Efficient? Not so much.
BI solutions help automate the process and shoulder some of the analysing - while helping you better visualise it too. This leaves your company and your team better poised for faster decision-making when it matters.
Why does Business Intelligence matter?
When over 2,600 BI users were asked the biggest benefit of BI,
● 64% mentioned speed (analysis and reporting)
● 49% mentioned quality (decision-making)
● 43% mentioned satisfaction (employee satisfaction)
From fashion to manufacturing, every industry needs to find opportunity to reduce risk, increase revenue and deliver better business outcomes overall. Gleaning insights from patterns in your data help tell you what specific actions to take.
Business Intelligence for small businesses.
As intimidating as the term may seem, BI doesn’t have to be complicated. Translating data into information that’s usable can easily be scaled up or down to fit your business’s needs.
Implementing BI can be as simple as monitoring and tracking KPIs and metrics, with automatic alerts so that swift actions can be taken. Today, there are affordable tools that make the technology accessible to all businesses regardless of size.
Below are some key areas where Business Intelligence can be applied in small businesses today:
● Human Resources (HR)
View absenteeism rates, identify key traits of suitable candidates for hiring or promotion, analyse work performance.
● Sales
View respective sales metrics at a glance, identify trends in customer behaviour, target ideal prospects, increase the accuracy of sales forecasts.
● Marketing
Measure the success of marketing campaigns, target the right audience, determine the best channel for specific campaigns, identify potential marketing opportunities.
● eCommerce
View trends in customer reviews, returns and delayed shipments, inventory management, track visitor activity.
Turn your data into meaning.
Blackbox makes Business Intelligence accessible for all businesses, regardless of size. Learn more about how our dashboards help you understand your business from the inside out, or request a demo at demo@blackbox.my.
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