Propelling SMEs Business Intelligence Through Linked Data Production and Consumption

The introduction of the linked data concepts to SMEs, coupled with sophisticated analytics and visualizations deriving through an integrated environment, called the LinDA Workbench, reduces the effort of specific workflows within a company, by almost 50% in terms of time, while its major benefit is the introduction of new, innovative, business models and values in the SMEs’ service provisioning. In this manuscript, the initial findings of the Business Intelligence Analytics (BIA) pilot operation of the LinDA project is discussed, which concerns the examination of the effects of Over-The-Counter (OTC) medicines liberalisation in Europe. The analysis aims at identifying correlations between pharmaceutical, healthcare, socio-economic and political parameters and introduces several research questions, which the present paper aims to answer, such as: Are the linked data useful for SMEs? Which are the benefits of integrating them in its operational environment? Are the analysis results of such a scenario meaningful for the SME service provisioning?