Business Intelligence Consulting for Small Business: What You Get and How to Judge It
You run a firm of 5 or 40 people. The numbers you need are in QuickBooks, a CRM, a store or a point-of-sale system, and pulling them together takes an evening you don't have. You want to know what a BI consultant would actually do, and what it costs.
Business intelligence consulting for small business is mostly practical work: deciding which five or six numbers the owner needs, connecting the two or three systems that hold them, and building one dashboard that refreshes itself. For a firm under about 50 people, a good consultant also tells you when a spreadsheet is still the right answer.
Lightray Solutions, a remote business intelligence consulting firm, offers it two ways: a fixed-scope first dashboard, quoted after discovery, or Power BI Flex Support hours from $2,500 for 20 hours. Edward Pinela, MBA, does the work himself, remotely, for small businesses anywhere in the US.
The first step is a free 30-minute strategy call. Ask for one through the form or by phone; Edward schedules each call himself, at a time that suits you.
“Amazing! Lightray Solutions built us a Power BI dashboard based on my busy restaurant’s quickbooks data that allows me to see my entire business on a daily basis which has been a game-changer! Excellent communication and service!”
— Quinn R., Google review
What does a BI consultant actually do for a small business?
Four jobs, in order. Agree the questions and the definitions behind them, such as what counts as a sale or a repeat customer. Connect the sources and clean what needs cleaning. Build the model and the dashboard. Then hand it over so you can read it, refresh it and change small things yourself.
The first job is where small business projects succeed or fail. A dashboard that answers questions nobody asks gets opened twice. Most owners want a short list: cash in the bank and owed to them, sales against last year, margin by product or service, and which customers have gone quiet.
Which engagement shape fits a small firm?
Two shapes cover most needs. A fixed-scope first dashboard suits an owner with a clear question and two or three sources; it is quoted after discovery and delivered as one project. Flex hours suit someone who already has Power BI, or wants help in small pieces, and buys time in prepaid blocks.
Flex blocks come in 20, 40 or 80 hours at $100 to $125 an hour, and unused hours never expire, so a quiet quarter costs nothing extra. A sensible pattern is the fixed-scope dashboard first, then a small Flex block for the changes that follow once people start using it.
| Option | Suits | How it is priced | What you end up with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed-scope first dashboard | An owner with one clear question and 2-3 sources | Fixed price, quoted after a free call and discovery | A refreshed dashboard, the model behind it and a handover session |
| Power BI Flex Support | Firms already on Power BI, or wanting help in pieces | From $2,500 for 20 hours; $100-$125/hr; 20/40/80-hour prepaid blocks | Hours used as needed; they never expire |
| Spreadsheet tidy-up first | A firm with one system and one weekly report | Quoted after the free call | A cleaner workbook and a clear answer on whether BI is needed yet |
| Adding a source or page later | An existing dashboard that needs a new system or view | Flex hours, or a small fixed quote | The new source in the same model, not a second dashboard |
What does the owner need to provide?
Less than most owners expect: read access to the systems, or exports if access is awkward; an hour to agree the questions and definitions; a short review of the first draft; and someone who will open the dashboard every week. That last one decides whether the project pays for itself.
Licenses are yours and stay in your name. Building reports in Power BI Desktop costs nothing; sharing them with colleagues needs a Power BI Pro license per person, which Microsoft lists at $14 per user per month, paid yearly, on its Power BI pricing page. A two-person firm can often run on two Pro licenses.
How do you judge a small business BI consultant?
Ask who does the work, who owns the files and workspace afterwards, how the price is set and changed, and what you can edit yourself once it is live. A consultant worth hiring answers each in writing before you pay anything, and is comfortable saying a smaller tool would do.
The full list, with what a good answer sounds like and the warning signs, is in questions to ask a Power BI consultant. Two warning signs matter most at small business scale: a quote given before anyone has looked at your data, and a model built in the consultant's own account rather than in your tenant.
Lightray's answers: Edward builds everything himself, in your tenant, and the files are yours from day one. He has 20+ years of experience across 200+ projects, and Lightray holds a 4.9 average on Google and an A+ from the BBB. Power BI work also carries a refund promise: a client who doesn't like working with us during the first 4 hours gets their money back.
Do you work with small businesses outside California?
Yes. Lightray's business address is in Fullerton, California, but every engagement is remote: video calls, screen sharing and work inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant. Small businesses in any state get the same consultant, the same process and the same published pricing, with sessions scheduled to suit your time zone.
A search for local business intelligence consulting usually comes from wanting someone reachable who understands a small firm. Being reachable is about response times and plain answers, not distance. For companies of roughly 50 to 500 people with several systems, see SMB data analytics solutions; if you're not sure BI is needed yet, read does a small business need business intelligence.
Further reading: Microsoft Power BI pricing.
Want one dashboard that answers the owner's weekly questions?
Book a free 30-minute call with Edward Pinela, MBA. You get an honest read on what to fix first — and if we are not the right fit, you will hear that on the call.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a first dashboard cost?
It is quoted at a fixed price after a free call and a short look at your data, because the cost depends on the number of sources and how clean they are. Ongoing help has a published price: Power BI Flex Support starts at $2,500 for 20 hours.
How quickly can we have something working?
The written quote gives a timeline once discovery is done. Small, well-kept sources, such as one accounting file and one store, move fastest; messy customer lists or years of inconsistent categories take longer to clean.
Can it all be done remotely?
Yes, that is the only way Lightray works. Sessions run over video with screen sharing, the build happens in your own Microsoft tenant, and handover sessions can be recorded so a new employee can watch them later.
We use QuickBooks and a few spreadsheets. Is that enough to start?
Usually, yes. QuickBooks plus a sales or budget spreadsheet is a common first model. If the spreadsheets change shape every month, part of the work is fixing a simple layout for them so the refresh keeps working.
What if Power BI turns out not to suit us?
For Power BI engagements, you can ask for a refund if you don't like working with us within the first 4 hours. And if discovery shows a spreadsheet would serve you better, you will hear that before any build starts.
You Won’t Get Handed Off to Junior Staff.
At most consulting firms, the senior person who sold you shows up for the kickoff — then you get handed to a team of juniors learning on your dime. That’s not how we work.
When you hire Lightray Solutions, you work directly with Edward Pinela, MBA — a principal consultant with 20+ years of experience across Power BI, web development, SEO, and CRM systems. Edward architects every engagement personally, stays involved through delivery, and answers his own phone.
Read Edward’s Full Bio“Mid-market companies deserve senior-level expertise without paying enterprise-agency prices. That’s the gap Lightray fills.”
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