Big Bad SQL Server for Small Innocent Businesses?

Though short, this article in PC World makes an important point: the PowerPivot feature in SQL Server 2008 R2 is incredibly valuable to small businesses. I mentioned in a previous post that in another “life”, in enterprise IT for a Fortune 10 company, I built a “BI” app using a SQL Server backend and pivot tables in Excel. Given all the complexities back then the end-users relied on my expertise to deliver their precious data each month.The operative word in there is “enterprise”. Back then this sort of environment was out of reach of most small businesses and required certain expertise.

But isn’t BI important to small business too? Absolutely! And until now it has, for he most part, been too complex for small businesses. With the introduction of PowerPivot small business have access to an intensely powerful set of capabilities that are extremely friendly. If you own or work for a small business I encourage you to check it out for yourself.