Business Intelligence: make decissions with a BI tool

We often talk about improving the processes that govern the activity of a given business, but it is not always clear what has to be optimized. What should you focus on? How can you detect inefficiencies? Or, from a more positive outlook, how do you identify aspects that can be improved?

The metrics that help with these decisions are not always available. Perhaps the information is available, but we are unable to reach valuable conclusions. Or perhaps measures have already been taken, but we are unable to see their benefits.

What is clear is that we must analyse the information linked to production-related activities, and usually cross-reference it with context information such as the market, the cost of each process, or the impact that a decision might have on the final price of a product or service. All this is possible thanks to Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. They usually go far beyond what an ERP or CRM type solution can provide because they pool information from various sources.

Let your business do the talking

Decisions are often based on static reports that a department supervisor provides us on request, and show the “picture” of a given moment. However, in today’s business environment, situations change continuously, and perhaps when we are ready to make a decision, the scenario has already changed. We need what is known as a single version of the truth. This is a very important aspect of the decision-making process.

Business Intelligence technologies, through their automated systems, significantly lower the risks due to these shortages, to coincidences or to human error.

In addition, the immediacy of direct access to real-time data provides decision-makers with greater credibility and leads to a more reliable and prosperous business environment. Furthermore, the charts or results provided by BI through dashboards usually allow us to go into the details of the results, which will not only serve to strengthen the need for a given decision but also be able to provide conviction regarding the suitability of a particular measure.

Needs change, the scenario as well. Do our tools change?

Anticipating needs is very difficult. We are not only talking about our customers’ needs, but also of our own. When it comes to the need for information, systems (CRM, ERP, etc.) often tend to be highly rigid, or it takes a long time for our supplier to develop them. We are tied to them. However, Business Intelligence tools, once the data model has been correctly defined and put together, will give us an impressive level of flexibility.

Nevertheless, before making decisions at any level, a thorough analysis of the data source is required. This entails the prior modelling of data so that the analyses, tables, charts and interactive dashboards can be built properly.

As experts in Business Intelligence, Intelligence Partner can help you with the deployment of tools such as Tableau (market leader) and with the necessary training, as well as with the necessary data modelling mentioned above, which is essential for your BI project to succeed.