Implementing a business intelligence solution that works smoothly with your inventory control and sales forecasting tools can be a challenge. More than the cost of the business intelligence solution itself, you have to take into account the implementation costs and the investment of time it requires. Several best practices can help you with the implementation of simple business intelligence for small business in a cost-effective, fast, and reliable way.
Fit the Product to the Business, Not the Business to the Product
Knowing your business goals and having an idea about the size of the data you have to handle enables you to choose a business intelligence small business app that matches your needs and provides the best value for your money. Tempting as many ads for business intelligence solutions may be, your small business doesn’t have as much data to process as an enterprise and may not have to track as many key performance indicators either. Because of this, you can easily opt for a straightforward cloud-based subscription app that can be accessed online at any time.
Prepare Your Data
One of the major difficulties with business intelligence implementation for many companies is ensuring that the data that will be imported into the business intelligence app is clean and reliable. If most of that data is contained in spreadsheets or static documents on a computer, pruning it before importing it can not only speed up the implementation process, but also improve the accuracy of the business intelligence reports and forecasts. On the other hand, if your data is stored in an accounting app such as QuickBooks, it may be seamlessly imported into a modern business intelligence app with just a few clicks.
Make the Most of Built-In Tools
Why use different apps for inventory management, sales forecasting, order management, or business intelligence when you can opt instead for an advanced inventory control business intelligence platform that integrates all those functions into one app? The more apps you use, the more fragmented your data will be, and the harder to back up and keep track of. As a small company, an inventory app with integrated business intelligence features can be the most sensible and cost-effective way to implement business intelligence into your firm.
Implementing a business intelligence solution into your company becomes a straightforward process with an inventory control business intelligence app such as DataQlick, which unifies in an easy to use interface an inventory management system, a sales forecasting tool, and an order management solution. Available as a web-based service that integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, Vend, and Shopify, DataQlick makes the business intelligence implementation process as easy as possible for small business owners, even if they have not used such a tool before. With DataQlick and QuickBooks, you can now act on your sales data.
