New apps and tools e.g. "OpenBusiness" bring cool and affordable analytics to smaller businesses, providing the data they need to compete with large chains.
When many small-business owners think about “big data”—the idea of using large and varied volumes of data to gain better customer and business intelligence—they assume it’s too costly and complicated. How can, say, a local restaurant downtown in nairobi or an independent retailer in Gikomba affordably access the data to compete with large chains?
Good news: New applications and platforms such as "Openbusiness" are emerging quickly to help make big data accessible to even the smallest businesses.
Java House, a company that owns coffee and tea shops in Kenya, uses Micros, a smartphone app that allows it to easily visualize point-of-sale data, labor metrics and other accounting data so managers can more efficiently and effectively make decisions. Using micros, the company has been able to shave its labor costs by 10 percent, according to a recent case study.
“One might assume that the exploitation of Big Data is the province of big companies but that’s not the case, thanks to several forces that are democratizing Big Data. These include affordable cloud computing storage, open source software for processing large volumes of data, and Big Data sets being made available in the public domain.”
Other companies are rolling out big-data products and analytics targeted at small firms. OpenWorld Ltd recently raised a substantial amount of money in order to expand and enhance its suite of applications aimed at making data “more accessible to all businesses, not just those that can afford data scientists.
Many small companies already have useful data at their fingertips through programs such as Google Analytics—helping them see how and why customers are accessing their website. But newer tools can help business owners access helpful data.
Here are some big data tools for small businesses to check out:
SumAll: A data visualization tool for companies for online retailers. It’s currently free.
SizeUp: A free online tool from the Small Business Administration that provides competitive benchmarking information to help companies compare themselves with other businesses in their area.
OpenWorld Ltd: A company that helps local businesses build customized loyalty programs and, in turn, gives them customer analytics.
