FAQs
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What is business intelligence for a small business?
Business intelligence for an SMB is the practice of connecting the systems where the business runs (accounting, CRM, operations, inventory) and presenting the combined data in dashboards leadership uses to make decisions. The output is visibility into customer profitability, product margin, sales rep performance, operational efficiency, and other metrics that the accounting system alone does not surface.
Do we need a data warehouse for BI?
Not usually, for a Houston SMB build. Most builds use Power BI direct connectors or a Dataflows refresh model that works without a separate data warehouse. Larger or more complex businesses may benefit from a lightweight warehouse such as Azure SQL or Snowflake. The right answer depends on data volume, refresh requirements, and complexity of the joins between data sources.
How long does a BI dashboard take to build?
For a typical Houston SMB first dashboard pulling from two or three data sources, the engagement runs about four weeks. Week one is requirements gathering with leadership. Week two is data connector build. Week three is dashboard design and review. Week four is refinement and training. Subsequent dashboards compress significantly because the data foundation is in place.
What BI tool should a Houston SMB use?
For most Houston SMBs already on Microsoft 365, Power BI is the natural choice because the licensing fits SMB budgets and the integration with Microsoft data sources is seamless. Tableau is excellent but pricier per seat. Looker, Domo, and other tools work for specific use cases. The right tool depends on existing stack, user count, and the complexity of the visualizations needed.
How do we know if BI is worth the investment?
Run a test. Pick the two or three questions leadership wishes the business could answer faster: which customers are most profitable, what is happening with margin by product line, which projects are running over budget. If the answers are not visible today, BI is probably worth the build. If leadership has clear, current answers from existing reports, BI may not move the needle enough to justify the investment.
