Empowering SMEs through Business Intelligence
Discussion and conclusions
The modern business has access to a vast amount of data that comes from its clients, suppliers, internal operations, and other external sources. With the right processing, this data can be transformed into helpful information that can be shared across all company departments, improving communication, and helping to plan the organization's various processes. It can also make a significant contribution to decision-making at all organizational levels. Making decisions is essential for every business' survival and growth in the cutthroat business world of today. Business intelligence and its numerous tools are at the heart of this problem.
Business Intelligence is a technology that includes applications and methods for the analysis and processing of data, and aims to discover knowledge, this knowledge should be used by management to make decisions. Decision-making by a Business Intelligence system includes several stages, such as the collection of data from the various information systems available to the company, the storage, retrieval and sorting of the appropriate data as well as their processing and transformation into useful information. For all these activities the European Union (EU) has a wealth of tools such as On-line Analytical Processing, data warehouses, data centers, visualization, and many other tools. BI systems contribute to decision-making at all levels of an enterprise, from the daily processes of the operational level to the important and long-term decisions made by management at a strategic level, in contrast to the rest of the information systems that can have a business that usually serves processes of a certain level. While initially Business Intelligence systems were only used by large multinational organizations due to their high costs, today these systems are used in almost all business sectors and especially in industrial and commercial companies, insurance companies, banks, and telecommunications as it has proven in practice that their benefits far outweigh their costs. The advantages of using them are many and varied, the most important ones being a better understanding of customers and their needs, reducing costs and failures and creating a competitive advantage over other businesses in the industry.
It is important to mention that choosing an EU system is not a simple matter and should be done after careful research on the part of businesses, so that the product they choose serves their needs and can perform the simplest to the most complex functions. It should primarily be easy to use, so that specialized personnel and capabilities are not required adapting the system to new data. It is also necessary to allow easy sharing of data between users. In addition, the integration of many different databases should be easy, and finally not required expensive hardware for its operation. Technological developments, the integration of markets at a global level, the financial crisis and constant changes have significantly intensified the competition between businesses, which must meet the needs and desires of consumers. To achieve this, it is necessary to have coordination between all the processes of a company, as well as correct information between departments.
This study highlighted the importance of Business Intelligence systems in the enhancement of the competitive advantage and the improvement of decision-making process of SMEs. Adopting BI across the organization requires a thorough understanding of what it is, why it is used, and the associated advantages. Although several research looked at BI adoption drivers and theories, there aren’t enough studies to fully understand how ready SMEs are to implement BI. Owner or senior managers of SMEs may find this information useful in their efforts to promote BI in a more proactive manner. It would also be helpful to conduct more empirical research on the factors and obstacles that affect BI adoption. To help in identifying the elements that contribute to effective BI deployment, a few frameworks and models have evolved. Thus, the need of a business model that will combine both Business Intelligence and TOE framework is crucial. The analysis indicated TOE framework as very important for SMEs, because it facilitates to the integration of emerging technologies by SMEs. Therefore, executives should focus on that issue and develop a business model based on the above factors. Once the new business model will be developed then the next step is to be applied to a sample of SMEs from different economic sectors. This can be achieved by researchers through empirical research, which will be based on questionnaires that will be designed for this purpose. Findings may be provided in a research paper to assist SMEs adopt this business model correctly and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of it.
Additionally, SMEs should strengthen their foundations for implementing and using business intelligence (BI) methods to enhance their business growth. The SMEs engaged in the initiative make use of BI-knowledge by setting it to use in building digital and circular economy-based goods, services, processes, or activities. SMEs can achieve that by employing collaborative, innovative, and agile practices, and techniques. The SMEs are concentrating on utilizing marketing automation and digital-based chances while establishing commercialization operations. In addition, there should be more cooperation between SMEs and institutes of higher learning. To share and improve the business knowledge-based solutions of SMEs, benchmarking workshops and meetings can be organized. College and university students can take a proactive role in the growth of SMEs.
In this rapidly changing and evolving environment, consumers now demand faster and more efficient service from businesses. To remain competitive, businesses and especially SMEs should meet or, better yet, exceed consumer expectations. Thus, SMEs will have to rely more heavily on Business Intelligence systems to stay ahead of trends and developments in events. Business Intelligence users are beginning to demand real-time analysis of their activities, especially those engaged in "frontline" activities. They monitor developments and constantly look for new and up-to-date information in the same way that they monitor stock prices online. Monthly and even weekly analyzes will not be enough for them. In the following years, SMEs will depend on real-time business information in the same way that people search for information online with just a "click". Also, the upcoming period, business information will become more democratized as any employee within an organization will be able to access the information to be informed about the performance of their department. In conclusion, in the future the required Business Intelligence capabilities will increase, at the same rate as consumer expectations and demands. Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to improve their pace to remain competitive.