How to Improve a Company With the Help of Business Intelligence?
For a company to carry out an optimal and correct decision-making process, the management, especially the finance department, must obtain, analyze, simplify and share corporate information. In addition, this process must be optimized to the maximum, always maintaining the quality of the data.
The amount of information generated inside and outside the company, together with the increase in the sources of information that we have, means that traditional management full of excels linked to each other is no longer sufficient but a most powerful tool for data management.
Business Intelligence tools allow the management of massive data from different sources, which is why they generate a significant impact in improving decision-making processes, as well as in the monitoring and control of business indicators.
If they have not already done so, medium-sized companies will have to face a Business Intelligence project sooner or later as part of their digitization process to allow management with timely and quality information.
How do Business Intelligence Tools Help?
Having a BI tool allows you to optimize the decision-making process by focusing your efforts on data analysis and not so much on generating information. This tool combines knowledge from different computer programs (accounting, payroll, CRM, warehouse, production, etc.), centralizing everything in dashboards.
Advantages of Business Intelligence
Many advantages allow speeding up the decision-making process with the use of BI:
- It will enable the information to be accessible at the necessary time from any device.
- Analyze and interact with a massive amount of data.
- Automatically calculate measures/metrics/KPIs composed of various currently inaccessible data.
- It allows projections, estimates, and simulation of multiple scenarios.
- Identify patterns and create automated and scalable models.
- It enables the elaboration of control lists and performs automatic checks.
- Helps generate dashboards and specific reports.
- It allows you to create attractive, interactive visualizations.
Steps to Follow For the Integration of Business Intelligence Tools
The 3 requirements to carry out a digitization process incorporating a BI tool are: select the tool, clean the data, and have the right equipment.
1. Tool :
Selection of the BI tool that best suits the needs of the company
2. Data :
Make sure the data is clean, clear, consistent, and accurate. Data storage and access are as necessary as data analysis.
3. Equipment :
Have a team of data processing experts, a business user, and a strategic advisor to provide the necessary knowledge and skills.
Once the tool has been selected, several 7 steps must be followed for its integration into the company:
- Set Business Goals
- Collect the data and identify the sources of information,
- Turn data into information.
- Analyze the information,
- Validate the indicators (KPIs) built,
- Generate graphs and dashboards that respond to the objectives set and automate the delivery of results.
- Mistakes to avoid in Business Intelligence
- Implementing a BI project in a company will not generate the expected results if it is not applied well from the beginning.
Thus, there are several errors to be avoided:
Not establishing a clear BI strategy: Knowing the business questions, we must answer in advance.
Do not involve end users: Without the acceptance of the people involved, the potential of BI will not be exploited, so an implementation plan and adequate training are essential.
Not paying attention to the data: The benefits generated by BI will not manifest if the data that is analyzed is outdated, inaccurate, or inconsistent.
Not correctly choosing the team that helps in the entire strategy, implementation, and information generation. It is preferable to subcontract to profiles with previous experience in BI. They dominate the management and operation of the tool.
Implement a BI Solution
The time to implement a BI solution varies depending on the level of digitization of the company (if an ERP is available, what computer tools are used, etc.), its size, and the team of professionals who carry out the process.
From planning to implementation, it takes around three months for midsize companies. It typically involves two employees, internal (administrative staff), or an outsourced team.
For larger companies, the CFO may need to plan up to a year from conception to implementation and have a team of six to eight, including internal staff and external consultants.
Benefits of Business Intelligence Tools
The implementation of these systems, despite being somewhat complex and undoubtedly expensive, generates numerous benefits of great value to the company:
1. Increase sales :
Analyzing massive customer data allows products and services to be tailored to their needs.
2. Identify patterns of customer behavior
It allows us to better segment customers and studies their behavior to develop more personalized advertising campaigns with a higher conversion rate.
3. Reduce expenses
Analyzing, for example, the evolution of sales by time slot, it is possible to determine the necessary personnel at all times.
4. Optimize warehouse management
It allows a much more efficient and profitable redesign of the logistics and storage process.
5. Improve pricing
It helps to establish price policies considering historical seasonality, analyzing demand in real-time, and monitoring the competition’s prices.
6. Speed up analysis time
Less time is spent on preparing information and more on analysis.
7. Help set realistic goals
Comparing current sales with historical ones and the evolution of competitors helps to establish specific, measurable, and achievable objectives.
Improve operating processes by detecting inefficiencies and/or points for improvement.
Having the necessary information at the right time and in a centralized way for all areas of the company (financial, commercial, marketing, after-sales, production, logistics, human resources, etc.) undoubtedly improves the decision-making process. of decisions.
