It’s possible to gather more data than ever due to the fact that most transactions are now online. The sheer amount of information can be overwhelming and is therefore often forgotten or deleted. Turns out leveraging this data is key to improving the efficiency and success of a business.
That is where Business Intelligence comes in. Business Intelligence is the practice of using data visualization, data collection, and real-time data analytics to drive business decisions. Cloud ERP systems make all of these processes a fairly simple chore, which in turn makes it much easier to make real-time data-driven decisions. Let’s take a look at some of the tools cloud ERP systems provide to increase business intelligence.
Data collection
Manually bookkeeping transactions is tedious and full of errors. With cloud ERP systems, data collection is automatic and occurs instantly. Not only is this error-free, but when the data is collected it is formatted in such a way that other systems will easily perform analysis on the data.
Other advantages to having data collected and stored in the cloud are automatic backup, advanced cybersecurity, and dynamic memory sizes. In addition, businesses can rest assured that their data is incorruptible, protected from leaks, and never lost due to memory limitations.
In some cases, businesses are using multiple types of software or databases to store their information, leaving it in an unorganized state. Cloud ERP systems can interface with all types of software and consolidate all of the data in a single place. This organization of mass data is important for making sure a business leverages its data for decisions and analytics.
Advanced statistical analysis
An advantage of having copious amounts of data is the ability to run exceedingly complex statistical models. Creating such models is not a trivial thing, and many businesses do not keep a data scientist or statistician on retainer. Cloud ERP systems come with advanced tools that make running these types of analyses very simple. Examples of these models include predictions of how a customer base’s consuming patterns may change or how a business should adapt to maximize operational efficiency. If you utilize the data collection tools of cloud ERP systems, the data is nicely formatted and ready to power these types of models.
Data visualization
Raw numbers and results are boring and hard to interpret. Discerning a trend from a random string of numbers can be near impossible at times. Data visualization tools are great for displaying data in graphs and tables in an intuitive way. Identifying things like linear trends or distribution types becomes a very easy task with a cloud ERP system.
Dashboards are becoming an increasingly common way to visualize business data. Dashboards configure information to show whatever type of data a business deems useful and update in real-time as more data comes in. Furthermore, dashboards make it very easy to compare categories of data, or the same data but over different periods of time. For example, if you want to compare sales and cost data from January of 2021 to January of 2020. Combining these visualizations is a powerful tool for guiding future decisions.
Reporting
Customers, clients, employers, and employees all want reports from one another. Reporting is one of the best ways to quickly disseminate information about what is happening with a business. Manually creating reports is time-consuming, and it is easy to mess up the numbers or figures included. Cloud ERP systems can utilize all of the tools we have talked about up to this point and automatically generate aesthetically pleasing reports. The consistency of these reports makes it easier for people to quickly discern the information and there are never errors. Furthermore, since they are automatic, they are configurable to send out at timed intervals or you may simply generate a new one whenever you desire.
Exporting of data
The data collected and stored by cloud ERP systems are available for download exportable in many different formats to fit a business’s existing analytical process.
More businesses are converting to data-driven decision making. Intuition is important while making decisions, but pairing intuition with data is crucial for making the most informed decisions. Luckily, cloud ERP systems are constantly being updated to make this process as straightforward and painless as possible.
If you have any questions on how to increase your business intelligence or about cloud ERP systems, contact us. Premier Computing has been at the forefront of implementing technology for businesses for over 60 years.
