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Business Analytics: How It Benefits Entrepreneurs

An essential skill for a modern entrepreneur is information literacy. You need to be able to quickly collect and accurately analyze data to extract value from it. Whether to do this in-house or by engaging business analysis specialists is a personal decision. In this article, we'll discuss the importance of business analytics for entrepreneurs.

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Any type of business activity requires constant information analysis. This helps transform accumulated data into concrete conclusions that can be used to make effective decisions.

Business intelligence (BI) results help business owners or managers generate and implement actionable ideas that will enable them to earn more while reducing transaction costs.

BI includes not only data analysis, but also performance management, predictive modeling, etc. Depending on the level of business development and its scale, different business analytics technologies are used.

How business owners work with information

A new entrepreneur, as a rule, independently collects, accumulates and analyzes data simply due to the small scale of the business.

   Over time, it becomes increasingly difficult to pay attention to current tasks:

        • every commercial proposal needs to be analyzed;
        • control invoices for payment;
        • consider the possibility of providing a discount, etc.

Entrepreneurs who aren't afraid to delegate delegate this work to employees while they focus on larger, more ambitious tasks.

The second type of business owner tries to keep everything under control because they are afraid of being deceived.

They spend all their energy on operational activities, so there is often no time left for business development.

Both groups are concerned about improving business performance. However, since they are inside the business, it's difficult for them to assess the situation objectively.

Moreover, not everyone is willing to seek consulting assistance because they don't want to disclose the details of the company's operations. Information about clients, prices, shipment amounts, and other data is kept confidential because it is a commercial secret.

Tools for business analysis 

At every stage of business development, its most convenient business analytics tools are used. They simplify the entrepreneur's life, save time, and help find ways to optimize the company's operations.

When starting their own business, entrepreneurs use simple data tracking tools (Excel, 1C), which operate on a do-it-yourself basis. But as the business grows, so does the need for more sophisticated analysis, which requires other tools for data exploration and visualization, as well as the help of specialists—business analysts.

Business Analyst A business analyst (BA) is a specialist who optimizes business processes using information technology. Their job is to identify problems and find solutions.

In other words, a business analyst keeps their finger on the pulse of the company's internal business development and responds to changes in the pulse.

Read on to learn about the skills a BA should have, the options for entering the profession, and how much such a specialist earns.in our next article

The Importance of Business Analytics

Let's consider the value of business analytics using a simple example involving the implementation of tools that collect data from the 1C platform.

  1. To carry out business activities, you use 1C accounting.

A business analyst with the right tools can connect to your 1C system and set up smartphone access to a full range of business information.

You will be aware of what is happening in the company at any time.

  1. If a company has representative offices or branches in different cities, it is more difficult for the business founder to control all processes.

A business analyst, using the necessary tools, will be able to consolidate the flow of information and present it in a format convenient for you.

You will be able to monitor all processes from your mobile device.

Services for business analysis

The primary goal of business analytics is to optimize business management processes, develop business activities, and identify new opportunities and ways to take a company to the next level. Technologies offer a significant variety of competing solutions. One of these is business analytics services.

They perform the following functions:

provide automation of marketing and sales;

generate reports (including reports for in-depth analysis);

carry out planning, etc.

There are different services for conducting business analysis:

One category (the simplest) works like a calculator: you enter data and the system immediately produces a result.

More complex ones integrate with CRM/ERP systems, banks, Excel spreadsheets, or receive information via a chatbot.

The most advanced ones are fully automated, making them much more convenient to use. Data is collected directly, so business owners don't have to waste time searching and entering additional data to obtain the necessary information.

Automated business analytics services

Using automated services simplifies an entrepreneur's life and helps them make decisions faster. There are many universal platforms that effectively address the needs of both bold young entrepreneurs and more conservative, experienced business owners.

Using such services, you can track:

There are many modern tools with simple and intuitive functionality, even for inexperienced users, that help them quickly get up to speed and start working with even complex types of analysis, creating excellent visualizations based on various types of data.

TOP 5 most popular services

Tableau

A service with an intuitive interface that lets you create and edit analytical charts. Using Tableau's interactive analytics system, you can visualize insights and share them with employees and partners. Language and localization options are available. A 14-day free trial is available.

QlikView

QlikView data indexing makes it easy to generate and compare information by combining different databases (SQL Server, Oracle, Excel, XML, and text files). To try out the service, you can install a free trial of the Personal Edition (Russian language version available).

SAP Business Objects

A service with a flexible, scalable infrastructure and a variety of reporting applications. It allows you to create and deploy analytical models for predicting marketing trends on-premises, in the cloud, or using a hybrid solution. A Russian-language version is available for free use during the trial period.

IBM Cognos Analytics

A service with a wide range of analytical features. It includes analytical reporting and trend analysis options. Cognos Analytics allows you to interact with reports directly from your mobile device. The service can operate offline. A Russian-language version and a free trial are available.

Microsoft SQL Server

The platform integrates multiple services for analysis, forecasting, budgeting, integration, reporting, and more. Both analytics and reporting services can operate as standalone servers. A trial version (180 days) and a Russian-language version are available (download the language pack by following the installation instructions for localized versions).

Using business analytics tools allows you to significantly save time and focus more on growing your business. About the most popular analytics toolswebsiteWe will tell you about it in the next article.

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