As a data scientist, I’ve seen small businesses struggle with business intelligence.
So much so that many of them end up raising the white flag, and essentially leaving their success up to chance. From my observations, the biggest stumbling block that your small business may face when it comes to BI is the lack of skilled human capital.
For instance, the cost of hiring a database administrator is very prohibitive.
In the US, hiring a database administrator can set you back $95,978 in annual remuneration. This is a huge sum that you may not be able to sustainably foot long-term.
With the right BI tools, however, you can discover a cost-effective BI solution that is just as effective as an experienced analyst.
To that end, I will take you through the best business intelligence software for small businesses in 2024 that will help you to become more competitive and profitable.
Let’s get started.
3 Tips for Choosing Business Intelligence Software
a) Consider a low or no-code solution
As a small business owner, I reckon staff with limited tech skills will use your BI tool.
In light of this, you want to go with BI software that offers low-code environments such as natural language prompts or drag-and-drop features.
b) Pay attention to integration features
The BI tool should be able to integrate with your business’s existing applications.
Otherwise, you may need to spend extra time and money on third-party integrations, or even have to abandon certain systems, such as your CRM, altogether. Therefore, always find out about the software’s range of integrations.
c) Keep in mind a customizable solution
Finally, you want to also prioritize BI tools that you can customize to your workflow.
Crucially, this ranks among the key tips for choosing business intelligence software because your small business has its own unique needs. To meet these bespoke requirements, it’s prudent that you choose a bespoke solution.
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Here are the top business intelligence solutions for your small business.
1. Columns AI
Columns AI enables more efficient and collaborative BI.
Oftentimes, data intelligence for your small business requires a collaborative approach across departments. Doing so is necessary to improve operational efficiency and get the most out of a smaller workforce.
As far as collaborative business analytics goes, I’m certain that Columns AI will be the best business intelligence software for small businesses in 2024 in this regard.
Through automation and AI, you can create personal data stories with automatic updates to ensure your team is always in sync.
This multi-party collaboration is further enabled by Columns AI’s slack integrations.
More specifically, you can regulate user access while allowing richer data analysis where each of your team members contributes to improving shared decision-making.
If you’d like to put this software to the test, you can get started with Columns AI for free. Once you sign up, you’ll gain access to a select community that will help you elevate BI quality even further.
Best features:
- ChatGPT data integration to improve data research quality.
- Canva-like design for simple data visualization via natural language inputs.
- Real-time data analytics that integrates with popular collaborative tools to facilitate faster and easier knowledge sharing.
Pricing:
- Plans begin at $15 per month for a select set of features.
2. Salessound
Is sales performance a priority process for improvement?
Built to help you get the most out of your sales team management or sales strategy, I especially recommend Salesound if this part of your business is critically underperforming or concerns you the most.
With Salesound, you can leverage detailed analytics to enhance your sales team’s collaboration and improve lead management and conversion.
That happens due to the increased data accuracy that comes with consistent structured reporting.
Whether you’re a sales leader or manager, this is the best business intelligence software to help you motivate your team better and elevate performance.
Notably, you can use Salessound at no cost via this free trial.
The best part is that this trial gives you access to all of the three tiers of subscription plans that Salesound offers to help you identify the best plan for your small business.
Best features:
- Snapshot surveys that help you to understand your team better for improved performance.
- Comprehensive sales reporting to help you reduce your sales cycle length.
- Automated spreadsheet templates that alleviate manual data entry and migration.
Pricing:
- Plans start at £5.00 per user per month.
3. Vizologi
A good business strategy is a vital aspect of running any successful small business.
Without a solid plan, you’ll fail to cash in on opportunities and trends. Additionally, you risk getting left behind by the competition.
Vizologi is here to make sure that doesn’t happen.
By allowing you to query an AI-generative platform on BI, Vizologi helps boost your business strategy to give you a sustainable competitive advantage.
It does that through an Infinite IdeaAI generator that helps you with analyzing trends for your target market so that you can capitalize on financial opportunities. What’s more, Vizologi gives you an inside look at the competition so that you can uncover strategies to outsell them.
I suggest that you sign up for a free trial to know for sure if Vizologi is the best business intelligence software for your small business.
For 7 days, you’ll get to query this platform on various BI concerns that you may have.
Best features:
- Business plan intelligence that curates ideas from the best-performing companies.
- Product naming algorithm that allows you to create a differential name.
- Competitive intelligence to give you a more detailed understanding of buyer motivations.
Pricing:
- Plans start at $9 per month.
4. Inven
Essentially, Inven is a BI tool that helps you with M&A research.
So if your work involves regularly performing reconnaissance to identify excellent acquisition targets, then Inven is the best business intelligence software for your small business.
Leveraging the power of AI, Inven can help you find M&A targets much faster.
By tapping into real-time global data and directly connecting you with owners, Inven also enables M&A research with a big-picture view of any M&A prospect.
All you’ll need to do is provide a list of one or two example companies.
Afterward, Inven’s AI-driven platform will automatically scan millions of websites to uncover key data points. Consequently, your M&A research process becomes easier, faster, and more accurate.
If you’re on the fence, I recommend that you sign up for an Inven trial. This will give you a better understanding of how the software works before you go all in.
Best features:
- Centralized market overview that allows you to find vital data points and players in one place.
- Contact data that directly links you with owners for easier research.
- AI-driven algorithms to help you uncover excellent middle market opportunities faster.
Pricing:
- Reach out to Inven for pricing.
5. Spiny.ai
Having worked with a few digital publishers, I know how challenging revenue analytics are.
It’s easy to obsess over content analytics rather than revenue analytics. When that happens, you tend to rely on flawed analytics that ultimately lead to lost revenue opportunities.
That’s exactly what Spiny.ai seeks to correct.
Custom-built for digital publishers, Spinay.ai helps you to analyze your audience, revenue, and authors via real-time analytics to increase your profitability.
As a result, you can adjust your editorial strategies to prioritize content and markets that are most likely to give you the best ROI. Overall, if you’re an editor for a newsroom or a digital publisher of any kind, Spiny.ai is the best business intelligence software for small businesses in 2024.
You should book your demo with Spiny.ai if you’re keen to get a feel of how its full range of capabilities can make life easier for you as an editor.
Best features:
- Spiny live analytics that gives you publishing projects and metrics for faster course correction.
- Automated metrics that save you from manually having to look up KPIs.
- Wide range of integration features to ease your implementation.
Pricing:
- ai offers subscription plans starting at $499 per month for select features.
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Conclusion
As a small business, you may not have a massive budget like those of big companies.
With large corporations having enough financial power to employ large teams of full-time data scientists, it’s nearly impossible for you to compete in this regard.
For this reason, I see many small businesses give up without a fight.
Just 26% of small businesses adopt BI compared to 80% of big companies, according to Dataprot. This further proves the financial disadvantage at play.
However, with the best business intelligence software for small businesses in 2024, you’ll get smart and cost-effective BI solutions to square up any competitor, no matter their size.
All of the 5 business intelligence solutions I’ve mentioned in this article are great options, so pick up one get started, and see firsthand how it can transform your business.
