Community Experts

Top Business Intelligence Tools
1. Grow BI Dashboard
2. BOARD
3. SAP Crystal Reports
4. Halo

When I saw this question I was impressed, not because someone asked it, but because freelancers and low-budget businesses have realized what the big boys in the world of business did ages ago: the need to better understand their business and how it relates with the customers and vice versa. Obviously, as a small business owner or freelancer, your pockets are not deep enough to invest in fancy and costly intelligence tools, but we have many low-cost options for data collection and analysis.

1. DBxtra: Not everyone has a technical background. Data analysts have a way of scaring the hell out of the rest of us with loaded analysis terms. Well, you don't have to worry about complex analysis process with DBxtra. You can easily generate insights without any SQL knowledge, then use the data to generate tables, charts, Power Point presentations and charts without losing part of your hair. It comes with a free 39-day trial --- only buy it if satisfied. Try it out!

2. Sisense: Imagine the ability to simply drag and drop various data sheets. This is one of the easiest-to-use business intelligence tools in the market. It enables you to formulate insightful reports about various aspects of your business and products, fast.

3. Pentaho: This is the best for those not willing to spend a dime as there is an entirely open-source version. It has a vibrant online community for users, but it is also easy to use. You can connect various databases and generate reports with ease without an associate degree in statistics.

4. Zoho Reports: This is one of the world's best but, it's ideal for large businesses. However, I have it on this list because it also comes with a free version; you can always toy around with the trial version before investing a penny.

Feel free to try these and many others available online to understand your business and customers better.

There are 2 very good tools that you can use for a retail business. I currently work for a company that uses Qlikview and Qlik Sense as tools, specifically for business intelligence. Another company which is in retail uses Tableau as a BI tool. Both of these tools can work easily with a lot of data, and are very easy to setup, so that you can look at your data and ask the questions you want to ask.

You could start by using your local business resources, SBA will have free info, so will a business incubation or HUB, a Development Manager as well as the Business Counselor for the Small Business Development Center located in your community or state capital should have a wealth of information they have already paid for and can help you to understand the data. They are quite eager to help business succeed in thier local markets, you also get the bonus of getting to network with some people that have much experience in the business world AND can connect you to others, Hmmm. hope this is helpful and saves you $$$