<p><img class="size-full wp-image-4746 alignleft" alt="Tablets" src="https://medusamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Tablets.jpg" width="238" height="212" />Business intelligence used to be the monopoly of CEOs. In its most basic form, it would provide them with monthly or yearly reports about various aspects of their company, allowing them to make informed decisions about which direction to take next. However, as technology has advanced and the world of apps has become open to virtually anyone with a mobile device, entrepreneurs and owners of SMEs can track just how their business is performing. But, is Business Intelligence a useful tool or is it just more fluff for would-be-businessmen to avoid the nuts and bolts of running a company?</p>
<h2><strong>Looking further Down the Line</strong></h2>
<p>The answer is no. Business Intelligence software is a vital part of starting and growing a business in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century. Software of this sort can record virtually any aspect of your business’ performance on a regular basis. Data such as this can be of vital importance to enterprises that are looking to gain ground and expand.</p>
<p>Using Business Intelligence software, it’s easy to create a metric for those facets of your business strategy that are otherwise immeasurable. The reach and success of a marketing strategy, for example, can be measured, reviewed and either continued or amended. In addition, data collected can be used to make intelligent and educated predictions about what is to come. Based on historical data, Business Intelligence software can predict the most likely outcomes for strategies and plans. Your business gets to look further down the line and you can make plans accordingly.</p>
<h2><strong>The Core of any Business</strong></h2>
<p>Perhaps the most important part of a business plan, its true core, is the management of finances. Small business accounting software such as Intuit, can take a number of forms but, at its heart, it keeps track of where your money’s going, where it’s coming from and just how much is left for the company to use for strategies and planning. For owners of SMEs and entrepreneurs, the advent of small business accounting software and apps means that the vital start-up budget doesn’t have to go straight into the hands of a bookkeeper.</p>
<p>There are an endless array of apps and programs that will automate time-consuming and costly manual tasks to turn them into efficient and accurate processes that gently tick away in the background, whilst you get on with the business of running your business. Perhaps the most widely used of these programs is QuickBooks, which seems to have taken the commercial sector by storm and is now used by over 4million businesses across the globe. Given that it can organise and structure practically every aspect of financial management, it’s no surprise to find that it’s now widely hailed as one of the must have pieces of software for anyone starting out on their own.</p>
<h2><strong>More than Savvy Software</strong></h2>
<p>But Business Intelligence is much more than just savvy software. It’s like having an array of experts on hand &#8211; experts who can give you accurate and dynamic advice. As the use of mobiles in business increases and the amount of data outputted by businesses hits an all-time high, good Business Intelligence software is the essential tool in navigating and making sense of information that, while it may appear daunting, can have a significant impact on the survival or failure of your company.</p>