Chapter 8: Intelligent Decision-making Through Adoption of Business Analytics: Empirical Evidence from Behavioural Intentions of African SMEs

The importance of technology adoption in SMEs in the African continent and around the world cannot be overemphasized because it improves operational activities and overall business performance. According to Rahayu and Day (2015), the implementation of information technology (IT) and e-business systems in small, medium, and large organizations is gaining momentum currently. The development of digital technology has enhanced the operational systems of both small and large businesses (Hassan & Ogundipe, 2017). Given this digital transformation, the research will investigate how small and medium business owners in Nigeria adopt and use digital technology, as suggested by researchers (Ogbolu & Adelaja, 2022). One of the most recent digital technologies for small businesses to use to modify their practices through the usage of IT is BA (Goes, 2014). Almtiri et al. (2022) described BA as a process of analysing data by combining statistical and quantitative analysis with explanatory and predictive models to make decisions and take action in the business. BA gather, analyse, and present the historical performance of the business, based on data, and combine it with business processes, skills, and technologies to drive business planning (TIBCO). Sheng et al. (2020) and van Rijmenam et al. (2019) identified BA as having substantial potential for future-proofing business decisions and resource and capacity planning. It can create innovation and bring competitive advantage to organizations by using it (Duan et al., 2022).