Top 5 Business Intelligence Tools for Small Businesses

Wrangle Your Data With These BI Solutions for Small Businesses

Nowadays, it seems like having data-driven insights into your business is nearly mandatory for success. Business owners and entrepreneurs need to be able to track and monitor a variety of data points within their companies, and they need it to be simple and efficient. The ability to manipulate data in an Excel sheet or other spreadsheet is great, but most small business owners don’t have the time to dive deep into the depths of their data. Thankfully, there are a variety of business intelligence (BI) tools that allow companies to easily track and monitor an endless variety of data points, so that they can make smarter business decisions, faster.

The sheer amount of software available can be overwhelming, to say the least. Here are five of our favorite BI solutions for small businesses. All you need to do is learn more about them, and then decide which tools are the best fit for your operation.

1. Tableau

If you know how to use Excel then learning how to use Tableau will be a breeze, which is one of it’s main selling points. Installing the software onto your desktop takes mere minutes, and it can connect to your data almost instantly. You’ll get interactive, analytical dashboards that can be stored on-premise or on the cloud. You can also create interactive reports that are visually appealing and easy to understand.

Tableau offers a free trial to begin with, so you can easily test it out to see whether this solution will work for your company.

2. InsightSquared

If you use Salesforce, then InsightSquared could be the next most helpful business tool in your arsenal. It’s one of the best Salesforce Analytics tools available, and is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses. You can easily visualize all of your data, and any trends associated with it, across a number of departments, including sales, marketing, financial, and staffing information.

InsightSquared offers a free trial, and their basic features start at $45/month per user, plus a setup fee.

3. QlikView

QlikView is a favorite amongst small businesses looking for an extremely user-friendly platform for their BI tools. The interface is simple and easy to use, and like many other BI options, you’ll get beautiful, interactive reports to share with your team. The software even offers customized solutions based on your industry, from banking to consumer products and more.

There’s a free personal version available for downloading, and QlikView also has an Enterprise Edition Server option. Obviously, pricing per server will be more expensive.

4. Sisense

Do you have data in a variety of locations, from your CMS to your sales software? In that case, Sisense could be extremely valuable for your business. This powerful and intuitive platform allows users to open different datasets simultaneously. Then, you can combine them with the program’s visual connector system. You can build fully customizable dashboards as well... without needing to contact the IT department.

Sisense offers a free trial version. If you like the software, you can request further pricing options.

5. DBxtra

If you prefer your BI reports to be simple and painless to create, then DBxtra is an excellent option. The company promises that users can create fully featured reports in less than an hour, even if it’s their first time using the program. It’s actually a suite of tools, so you’ll have a fair number of features to explore. Create interactive dashboards, pull data into Excel, auto-generate reports, and more with this ad-hoc software. There’s no SQL or programming experience required to use the software, either.

Since DBxtra offers a variety of solutions, pricing will vary based on your needs. However, there is a free and fully functional 30 day trial available.