Microsoft Excel can be used to record inventory, create simple and complex formulas, and manage data. The world’s most popular spreadsheet program is chock full of features, and with a recent upgrade, users will be able to do more with their own data.

Your small business’s data is valuable, and utilizing it for growth strategies lets you discover opportunities. One way to do that is to use business intelligence (BI) tools. Multinational companies have been using them for years with the assistance of experts who help make sense of massive amounts of data.

If you’ve managed to convince yourself that only large enterprises have the money to take advantage of Business Intelligence (BI), then think again. In the past, companies needed to hire expensive experts to really delve into BI. But these days, there is a range of affordable self-service tools that will allow small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to make use of BI. What's more, your SMB creates and holds much more data than you realize, which means you can start using BI for your business.

Dashboards allow you to better understand your customers and easily make informed business decisions. But with many types of dashboards out there, each serving a unique purpose, how do you determine which one is best for your company? We’ve listed three types of the most widely used dashboards below.

Failure to understand your customers’ needs and wants could result in ill-informed marketing strategies. And when your company can’t satisfy their demands, they’ll likely turn to your competitors instead. To prevent this, deploying a customer relationship management (CRM) system can make a world of difference.

It’s one thing to collect your business’s data, but turning that information into insights that propel your organization toward growth is quite another. Analyzing your data can be daunting, but it shouldn’t get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list.