B.C.G

More people are search for ways to do business on the internet, but
the question remains: How do you run an affordable online business?
Between telecommunications, marketing, salaries, rental of premises,
equipment, systems, training, and more, business overheads can quickly
skyrocket, costing you a pretty penny. When you have a made-for-internet
business that doesn’t require a store-front, stock and expensive
equipment, you have every reason to capitalise on the many advantages
available for you to run an affordable online business.

There are many ways to save on business costs, especially when you take your ideas online, including:

1. Using Open-source Software for Various Business Processes

Think about how Skype, Google chat, and email can reduce your
communication costs. Many VoIP companies provide affordable
telecommunications solutions that include free minutes, as well as PBX
and a variety of other great features.

Open-source backup
systems such as Dropbox can keep your documents safe and at the same
time, make them accessible from various computers for team members who
collaborate. Google Docs is another great solution for online
collaboration.

2. Becoming a Social Media Expert

Social media platforms offer a free marketing avenue that, when done
properly, can bring in significant revenues. Every business owner should
learn to become proficient in social media marketing practices, because
it is a great way to connect with your target market, build an
audience, and spread the word about your product or service.

3. Hiring Freelancers for Various Business Functions

Unless you actually need someone sitting in your office or store all
day, you could use freelancers to take care of many of your business
functions. From designing a website, to marketing, copywriting,
accounting, customer support and virtual administration duties, the
freelancer base is increasing daily. How do you save money with
freelancers?

? You hire a specialist in his or her field, rather than a general worker.

? You pay an hourly rate only on work that is done, rather than paying a salary.

? Freelancers provide their own technology and infrastructure. They
work from their own location, so you don’t need to rent office space and
computers and you don’t have to deal with IT issues.

In a complex business environment there is a need of quick decision
making for growth of an organization. So, there is a need of business
intelligence applications which present data on fact based in &
outside the company by utilizing data one can take decisions rapidly.

So here, I am going to describe three phase of
evolution of IT applications for enterprises from office automation to
business intelligence.

Office Automation:- During the first wave
of IT enablement of companies, different business tasks and processes
are automated (e.g. invoicing, stock-keeping, accounting, payroll and
others). These kinds of IT systems commonly known as ERP (enterprise
resource planning), MRP (material resource planning), CRM (customer
relationship management), HRMS (human resource management system), etc.,
accelerate the business process and provide quick access to information
across the enterprise.

Commonly, they keep records in a
database at the lowest level with all details of the transaction. They
are used for data entry and operational reporting.

Businees Intelligence applications:

The rising class of IT applications which use information assets to aid
in better decision-making is business intelligence applications. A
variety of tools and techniques such as data mining, predictive
analytics and data visualisation are employed to provide valuable
insights into past, current and future business metrics.

BI
applications serve a critical function in achieving operational
efficiency, integrated planning and coordination and monitoring.

Here are the highlights of BI applications.

Single version of the truth: It provides consistent information in real
time across the enterprise, thereby eliminating debates on the validity
of data. It also visualises information through meaningful dashboards
to allow for coordinated decision-making.

performance metrics
trees: Business performance metrics are related to KPIs and are
computed at different levels within the
organization. Metrics are linked to each other to create a
metric tree, which connects the low-level performance metrics with
high-level outcome measures.

The golden triangle (budget, time
and quality): One can foresee impact of changes in specifications and
business case. This helps to manage the trade-off between budget, time
and quality.

Business modelling: It captures business dynamics in robust and transparent models.

These are useful for sensitivity analysis, simulation and scenario-based decision-making.

Looking backward, moving forward: It does not rely only on historic
data to look into the future, but integrates external and internal data
for better forecasting and predictive analytical capabilities.

It is vital for enterprises to be well-informed and take quick,
fact-based decisions in the dynamic marketplace. Business intelligence
offers a ripe set of solutions that plug into existing IT infrastructure
and bring out valuable insights.