Mom-and-pop operations don't need it and giant corporations have their own methods. So companies in the middle are the sweet spot for Lewisburg's Bison Analytics, which makes cloud-based, business intelligence software for small businesses that use the ubiquitous QuickBooks accounting software.
Companies hovering around $1 million in revenues are big enough to benefit from analytics — tracking vendors, studying cash flow, evaluating performance indicators and myriad other functions. “We make it possible for companies to extract data from QuickBooks and review their numbers and understand what is going on trendwise and growthwise via the Internet,” says founder and CEO Kurt Steckel.
Some huge companies use QuickBooks, but in general, Steckel says, his strategy is to “bring the same experience down to smaller companies.”
So, for example, a document-shredding outfit running QuickBooks used Bison's Bat System business intelligence tool to create a web-based invoice that is customizable for each client. Bison helped a sales team extract detailed data and generate sophisticated reports to document its results.
Steckel founded Bison in 2010 and recently received his first outside investment, a $35,000 loan from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, earmarked, he says, for software enhancements and marketing. Bison has six employees and Steckel's goal is to add three or more new positions in the next year. The company is also expanding physically, with the addition of 400 square feet, bringing its space to 1,400 square feet, at its Lewisburg offices.
Source: Kurt Steckel, Bison Analytics
Writer: Elise Vider