Space Age brings enterprise business intelligence to SMEs

Data analysis in many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is often limited to a mixture of the standard reports available in the company's accounting or ERP software plus a selection of data exports to Excel by one or two more technically-inclined individuals. The reasons business intelligence in SMEs has been limited in this way are varied, but usually include cost, level of technical skill required, as well as a general appreciation for the value it will bring to the business.

With almost every business transaction being recorded digitally nowadays, the ability to easily analyse this data and extract relevant information quickly and simply has become essential for businesses wanting to fine-tune their operations and be a jump ahead of the competition. Because smaller businesses are typically able to adapt quickly, having this sort of intelligence allows them to make better decisions more often - to quickly and continually apply improvements as and when needed.

Business intelligence expert at Space Age Technologies, Vusi Nkomo, points out: "According to the SME Survey 2012, fewer small and medium-sized enterprises consider themselves to be competitive when compared to previous years. Our goal at Space Age is to use technology in appropriate ways to help SMEs improve profitability, streamline processes and enhance customer satisfaction."

Space Age Technologies has served the small and medium-sized business market for the past 18 years and therefore feels it has an excellent understanding of the needs that are specific to these companies. Business intelligence (BI) has, in the past, been too costly, too technical and mostly overkill for SMEs. However, with the new breed of BI tools, costs and complexity have been driven down suitability and value has increased significantly.

"In our quest to provide best-of-breed solutions, we recently signed a partnership with the fastest-growing BI company in the world, Tableau Software. Their distinctive take on rapidly deployable visualisations and business intelligence solutions that quickly, effortlessly and easily give actionable insight into the way SMEs work, are a natural fit for our competitive advantage-generating philosophy," says Nkomo.

The partnership is seen as a win for both parties. Tableau Software gained a strong and capable partner to represent it in the small and medium-sized business market, while Space Age gained access to the most relevant data analysis tool available to SMEs today.

Adding a business intelligence competency to its award-winning infrastructure business has been a natural part of Space Age Technologies' evolution into a unique partner for those SMEs that believe IT can contribute significantly to better business performance. However, in order to continually enhance the business through the use of IT, a new approach is required - the company has labelled this "Relevant IT". Space Age is committed to providing its clients with IT that not only drives business strategy, but also can reliably and consistently translate business needs into valuable technology assets.