Can executives trust business intelligence?

For executives, time is often short, and tasks are many. As more companies are realizing the benefits of business intelligence (BI), those who have not yet implemented analytical solutions in their own companies are at risk of falling behind. But is it safe to trust BI as a basis on which to make crucial business decisions? In this blog, we discuss some benefits and potential issues executives may face.

CEOs are leading in times of extraordinary change. A recent study by KPMG reveals that as many as two thirds of CEOs believe the next three years will be more critical for their business than the previous 50 years.

The study goes on to outline that the number one reason CEOs believe the next three years will be critical is due to technological advances. There is a tremendous pressure on management across businesses. It is clear to see that not investing in technology beyond traditional ERP and Excel solutions could prove dangerous.

After implementing a BI solution, executives can create and access their own reports and insights. This saves time for both IT, management and all other parties involved, but can you trust it?

Human error

Gartner states that as many as 70% of BI projects fail. It may be a statistic that worries many businesses when embarking on a BI journey. However, many of the reasons BI projects fail have nothing to do with the actual software. It has more to do with poor business planning, bad internal communication, a lack of appropriate skills for the new software and team malfunction (you can read more about these reasons in this blog).

As such, it is essential that executives and their teams are prepared for the new software and consider how it will improve their business. Choose a solution offering a strong online help portal, good customer service and ensure executives and leaders set an internal culture that supports teams working well together.

Inaccurate data

Another major point of concern is a company’s own data. CEO’s are concerned that their own data contains errors, making subsequent analyses in BI Software inaccurate. However, what the article fails to mention is that any reports run in the traditional way through IT would still be inaccurate if the original data contains errors. As such, ensuring one’s own business data is accurate is a top priority for decision making regardless of the way reports are created and analyses are performed. In fact, as a BI solution like Phocas integrates directly with most ERP systems, data that is accurate in the ERP system will be equally accurate in the Phocas.

Business Intelligence for optimal business performance

Once a BI solution has been successfully implemented, there are countless benefits of BI as opposed to keeping IT busy generating endless static reports. First of all, generating your own reports will mean your IT team has more time to prepare for business critical emergencies (such as security) and can perform their other tasks to a higher standard. Secondly, executives will have a better view of the business, spend less time waiting for reports to be able to make decisions, and access data anywhere, anytime. And with a better overview comes the ability to more effectively spot business opportunities, reduce costs and make improvements. It’s a sure way to stay ahead of the game.

This can easily sound a little too good to be true. However, many companies have already started trusting Phocas business intelligence and are reaping the benefits.