Big data is now a big deal in business and, with consumers set to produce around 1.7 megabytes of data in mere seconds by the end 2020, it’s getting even bigger.
While the fact that we’ve collected 90% of the world’s business data in the last two years brings undeniable benefits, it also poses certain operational challenges. Manual data management and collation might have been possible five years ago, but companies can’t keep on top themselves in this growing data landscape. That’s why enterprise performance management (EPM) software has become a company staple, and it’s why you should consider implementation to help you monitor performance across the board.
But, you don’t need to take our word for it. Keep reading to find out six key benefits you can enjoy with business intelligence (BI) software to help your data centralisation moving forward.
#1 – Tracking multiple KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) have long played a crucial part in setting strategic goals across the business landscape. By allowing companies to work towards priorities, KPIs can help to streamline processes, increase profits and provide a larger overview of the company’s performance. Yet, as any business owner knows, KPIs are only useful when paired with regular and reliable tracking.
Unsurprisingly, the ability to analyse data is key to those tracking processes, and business performance management software stands to bring that goal within reach. With the right BI software behind your business, it’s possible to track multiple KPIs without once adding to workloads. Instead, EPMs provide invaluable metric insights on one centralised platform, as well as sending data straight to your phone or inbox for real-time reporting that you can trust.
#2 – Aligning goals to metrics
Business goals are fundamental for forever ensuring that you’re moving towards positive change, hence why companies set KPIs in the first place. But, there often tends to be a disconnect between KPI metrics and the goals that drive business processes forward. For obvious reasons, this can lead to issues with meeting said goals down the line.
Until, of course, you introduce business performance management software into this process, too. As simple as that, you should find that organisation alignment comes easily within reach.
The centralised, single-source processes of programs like these mean viewing metrics from across your business landscape on a straightforward platform without the usual back and forth. You can also then set metrics directly against KPIs for help determining financial and operational goals and their success points at all times. This alone is fantastic news for financial consolidation, improved planning processes and the general smooth running of your business.
#3 – A more comprehensive view
At the C-suite level, it isn’t always easy to oversee business in its entirety. With different departments, priorities and processes, operations planning and organisation become increasingly challenging to achieve. But, as a front-runner within your company, these are things you need to overcome to achieve top performances on a business-wide scale. The solution? BI software that brings everything in one place.
If you’re trying to deal with information from a wide range of data sources, then you don’t stand any real chance at gaining the comprehensive view necessary for successful implementations and oversight. By comparison, a one-size-fits-all data warehouse that your entire team can use will simplify processes.
Even with complex business structures and different locations to consider, this is a sure way to simpler processes you can handle — all without adding to your already intensive workload. As well as helping within your direct workplace, this comprehensive view can be invaluable when it comes to dealing with potential operational pitfalls like…
#4 – Data collation across franchises
Franchises are a fundamental part of business growth, with the franchise industry itself now contributing around £15 billion to the UK economy. But, as you may be able to foresee, franchising poses certain problems, including complicated communications and setbacks with financial reporting or the general sharing of metrics. Any of these has the potential to leave franchises operating outside of your intended business model, as well as costing you more in output over time. But corporate performance management (CPM) software can come to your rescue here, too.
Thanks to cloud-based capabilities and intelligent data handling processes, having the right software in place is guaranteed to take the work out of even a franchise undertaking. This way, you can share key metrics and indicators across your franchise board to set industry standards, as well as receiving reporting back from franchisees to prove the value of an undertaking or any potential problem areas.
Given that franchisee autonomy should also play a fundamental role in this business agreement, there’s a strong chance that handling performance management in this way will help you to perfect franchise relationships in ways you would struggle to achieve otherwise.
#5 – Enriching employee experiences
It isn’t just the higher end of your business that stands to bask in EPM benefits. Proper software implementations can also enrich employee experiences in two key ways. The use of BI platforms that team members can access anywhere is especially useful to employee happiness in an age where 77% of workers think companies should provide remote capabilities to attract top talent.
Admittedly, some employee resistance isn’t unusual when it comes to potentially unfamiliar software, but even initial grumbling is sure to quieten when your team members realise that EPM sets them up for:
Knowledge they wouldn’t otherwise have
Often, employees are left behind the curve when it comes to data or the action managers intend to take as a result of that. This can lead to misunderstandings and potentially unhappy employees when KPIs suddenly swerve in different directions. But it’s an issue you can eliminate by using EPM to ensure your team knows how data insights and business goals are progressing at all times.
Improved recognition
Workplace recognition is vital for morale, but 68% of employees still report feeling unappreciated. Reasons for this vary, but too often, busy managers merely fail to recognise what employee efforts do for them. With BI implementations, managers and employees alike will be able to visualise performance and bridge that gap. This makes general recognition easier, as well as giving employees a boost to perform as well as possible at all times.
#6 – Actionable insights
Last but by no means least, EPM software provides C-suite individuals easy access to actionable insights for business improvements moving forward. Data collation software in the past has focused around wide-scale metrics with little real actionable focus, but that isn’t the case now BI is coming to the fore.
As if centralisation and cloud capabilities weren’t enough, software like this makes it possible for managers to see not only what’s happening across a company, but also what they can do about it. KPI dashboards are especially useful for this, allowing the setting of KPIs directly in the aftermath of data insights.
As we’ve already touched on, these intelligence platforms also help managers to target and streamline the data they view, thus ensuring access to useful and actionable information without the stress and workload that typically comes alongside more generic big data collation.
EPM: Bringing you closer to the business you want
When you start looking into business performance management software, it’s impossible to ignore the benefits. Whether you’re attempting to perfect franchises or finally get on top of your KPIs, this is undoubtedly an easy way to do it.
As with any software implementation, choosing the ideal platform that offers everything you need is always going to be essential but, once you get that right, you should find that the rest soon follows.
