With Business Intelligence, Integration is Key

In today’s dynamic business environment, every staff member needs the right information to perform their job effectively.  From high level executives who determine the strategic direction of the company to customer service agents on the front line who must react quickly to customer issues, when employees have access to the most accurate information at the time they need it, they are able to make more timely and better informed decisions.  And as the quality of decisions improves, the business realizes improved operational results.

Business intelligence facilitates this process by consolidating data from disparate sources in order to provide users with meaningful indicators.  But connecting multiple databases to the BI system requires often complex integration projects, and still, the information within the multiple databases can provide conflicting data.  By integrating all your information and business transactions in one coherent database, ERP systems provide a solid foundation for decision making tools.

Do You Need a Business Intelligence System?

Companies in need of business intelligence often have trouble accessing the information they need when they need it.  Though all the critical data they need to make better decisions are already within their company’s management system, users often struggle with complex queries and inappropriate export formats to retrieve basic reports about their business.  Compare the time and effort it takes to feed your management system with accurate data and the value you get in return.  Is it worth the pain?  See if any of this sounds familiar:

• You don’t remember which of your multiple sales analyses in Excel is the most current.
• You have to ask IT to create reports and, by the time you receive the reports, the information is no longer current or useful.
• Employees have to run multiple queries to produce a single report.
• You are unsure of where the numbers come from.
• Mission critical data is spread across disparate systems and databases and accessing the information you need is difficult.
• You spend too much time collecting data and creating reports manually for analysis rather than making important business decisions.
• Complying with government reporting requirements is cumbersome and time consuming.
• You make important decisions based on instinct instead of accurate current and historical data.
• You can’t identify business trends.
• You’re not sure where to focus your efforts to achieve your goals.

Business intelligence enables companies to better understand, analyze and predict what’s occurring with their business.  It provides managers with meaningful information to make more informed and timely decisions by monitoring the business environment, focusing on exceptions and consolidating data sources.

Staying on top of today’s dynamic business conditions is important.  Not only will you be better prepared to respond to circumstances that could negatively impact your business, but you also will be in a better position to take advantage of opportunities that can benefit your business. deca steroids