NEW YORK, USA: More SMBs (small and medium businesses, or companies with up to 999 employees) in the United States are seriously considering using Business Intelligence (BI) software tools to help them better understand market drivers for sales and forecasting, and for increasing their profit margins.

There are about 6.3 million SMBs in the US, with about 98 percent of them being SBs (small businesses, or companies with up to 99 staff).

These findings emerge from a recent survey on US SB and MB IT assessment trends by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. Companies go through a large volume of consumer data and BI helps make sense to data-mine that information to drive sales and better position marketing and messaging.

About 9 percent of PC-enabled SBs in the US are currently using BI in the form of packaged software compared to 37 percent of MBs. 5 percent of PC SBs are using BI as part of an online software as a service tool for 2008. However, PC MBs, not as much: a mere 1 percent.

"PC-enabled SBs in the US are interested in running BI on their consumer data to drive and monitor performance against the competition," says Nichelle McKenzie, New York-based Research Analyst at AMI-Partners. "The payoff is rapid innovation, new marketing ads and new channels to boost their profit margins. Almost 80 percent of SBs try to understand TCO (total cost of ownership) before purchasing BI products/services. That's because they want these purchases to be a part of their overall IT strategy."

About 16 percent of SBs – and 22 percent of MBs – in the US said they use BI or data mining and forecasting financial planning as part of an ERP/SCM module. Wholesale and retail are the dominant sectors. "This makes sense, considering the volume of e-commerce and email data that is collected daily," says Ms. McKenzie. "However, for MBs we see a different pattern, where 30 percent are using BI as part of ERP/SCM and professional business service is the dominant sector."

More than 25 percent of SBs that use BI separate from a larger module feel that it is important to study and use e-commerce data to drive sales and revenue. "SBs are using CRM data to deploy BI software," says Ms. McKenzie. "However, we still see the need for awareness of BI and the positive impact that it can have on SBs. Most SBs in the US use BI as part of the ERP/CRM module."

One factor driving SBs to adopt BI is the feeling that the existing software is no longer adequate. The attached chart highlights the current brand usage for BI software applications among SMBs in the US. BI usage among brands is low but BI is a growing area for vendor investment in 2009. There is no dominant market leader in the BI space, so the opportunity to make a mark is huge.

BI and data mining software tools help companies gather and interpret data to make better business decisions and to optimize business processes. It involves the use of statistical forecasting, predictive modeling and problem solving methods to provide strategic information for business positioning.