SMBs Expect BI Solutions

A recent article Small Business Trends article offers “4 Reasons Data Driven Small Businesses Are Embracing Big Data.”

The article includes this telling quote: “Previously the exclusive domain of statisticians, large corporations and information technology departments, the emerging availability of data and analytics – call it a new democratization – gives small businesses and consumers greater access to cost-effective, sophisticated, data-powered tools and analytical systems.”

A Tuesday press release from Izenda and Pareto Business Group,  a Windsor, Ontario-based company, confirmed that statement. Pareto chose Izenda as a technology partner “because it provides enterprise class capabilities and superior usability, a value that allows for white-labeling to the small and mid-sized market.” (Read the full press release on PRWeb.)

Need for Self-Service Reports

Pareto, a software development firm specializing in enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications that serve a variety of industries, was looking for a vendor that could provide self-service reports, dashboards and sophisticated BI visualizations. Pareto Chief Technology Officer Chris Cooper said of Izenda’s platform:  “It’s part of our core offering. This gives us what our users need in an effective and timely manner. It’s now easy to drill-down and explore data in real-time, giving businesses more time for analysis and less time creating reports.”

Recently, Cypher System Group, also of Windsor, Ontario, purchased a majority share of Pareto.

Small businesses no longer need to fear terms like “big data.” The platforms are there to provide small businesses with meaningful insights from their data, giving them a competitive edge.

New Culture on Small Business Emerging

What are the four reasons small businesses are moving toward analytics and business-intelligence solutions? According to Small Business Trends:

• Along with analytics, cloud and mobile technologies and social media (the so-called SMAC phenomenon) – are all converging to make affordable solutions possible.
• Proprietary data combined with data from the cloud will create new insights.
• Small businesses already have ERP and CRM software platforms to better monitor their data.
• And small businesses are already moving toward using data for real-time decision-making.

The article concludes: “With data-driven tasks and decisions in the mix, a new culture of small business is emerging, powering greater opportunities for the small business community, its vendors and customers.”

Numerous other articles – from Forbes and Inc. magazines, for starters — have documented success stories of small businesses leveraging data for actionable intelligence.

See Izenda for yourself – watch this two-minute video to find how end users can instantly create new reports without requiring an understanding of database concepts.

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