When running a business, one of the most important aspects of making good decisions and formulating a strategy is knowing what is working and what is not. There are many different business intelligence tools that are available today. According to Clydesdale Bank, an institution that supports small businesses, these online business tools can help a business owner truly see the areas of the company that need improvements and which aspect is effective or not. The information they get can truly aid in making their business a success.

Online Budgeting Tool

One of the best online tools for any business is an online budget tool that shows income and expenses. There are so many different types of budgeting programs you can find in the market today. Mint.com, Budget Pulse and Personal Capital are just some to consider.

It is important for every business to understand their different streams of income, and where that money comes from. Many businesses find out that a huge percentage of their funds come from only a couple of customers. If a business finds itself in this situation, it is important to keep those customers happy. Over the long run, having good data will drive good decision making. Online budgets are a great way to show where the income is coming from in a business.

In addition to income, online budgets will also show where the largest expenses are going. This is important because income minus expenses is the bottom line profit on a business. In order to reduce expenses, it is important to understand what is driving those expenses. If a business has over half of its expenses going out under one category, this category should be the first place the business goes before doing anything else. If a business can understand where all of its income comes from and where all of the expenses go, they can start to get a high level view of exactly what is going on in their business.

Marketing Tool

Finally, another great tool for any business is to invest in a good and effective marketing tool. Some tools to consider would be BuzzSumo, Mention, VWO and a lot more. There are many businesses that spend thousands or millions of Pounds per year on marketing, but do not know the payoff to those efforts. It is important to what your customers want.

With these marketing tools, you find valuable information in regards to customer and market behaviour and patterns. This way, you know which works and which just a waste of money is. There are many ways to measure the effects of marketing, but at the end of the day the marketing efforts should result in higher sales and profits for the company doing them.