For years, big companies have been harnessing the power of business intelligence (BI) to improve business performance. And for them, paying experts to analyze large data sets is no issue. It’s different with small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). SMBs also store large volumes of data, but many SMB owners are wary of spending too much on BI. Fortunately, there are plenty of budget-friendly BI tools and resources available for your SMB nowadays.

Your small business’s data is valuable, and utilizing it for growth strategies lets you discover opportunities. One way to do that is to use business intelligence (BI) tools. Multinational companies have been using them for years with the assistance of experts who help make sense of massive amounts of data.

If you’ve managed to convince yourself that only large enterprises have the money to take advantage of Business Intelligence (BI), then think again. In the past, companies needed to hire expensive experts to really delve into BI. But these days, there is a range of affordable self-service tools that will allow small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to make use of BI. What's more, your SMB creates and holds much more data than you realize, which means you can start using BI for your business.

Business Intelligence (BI) has conventionally been the preserve of big business, given the need for specialist knowledge meant hiring pricey experts was often the only way to leverage its value. But the rise of self-service BI tools has leveled the playing field, allowing small- and medium-sized businesses to get in on the game too.