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9 Ways you are failing at Business Intelligence
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9 Ways you are failing at Business Intelligence

9 Ways you are failing at Business Intelligence

Business intelligence is critical for making strategic business decisions, but often organizations’ BI efforts are hindered by bad data practices, tactical errors, and other factors. Executives understand the importance of having high-quality data when making business decisions. However, obtaining reliable data in a timely and user-friendly format continues to be difficult. Yes, there is a struggling market for business intelligence (BI) analysts and distributors. How can you determine 9 ways you are failing at Business Intelligence and it’s time to update or recruit specialist experts? Knowing where others have gone wrong will help you answer these questions. 

Doing What Customers Ask, Instead of What a Company Needs

Surely placing customer satisfaction as the top priority leads a company to success. However, when it comes to technology, business users can not always grasp what they are requesting. Apart from that, they try to impose the solution’s technical information. 

 

BI failure is a result of implementing what consumers want rather than what they need. Successful BI projects necessitate the ability to adequately verify BI findings, and the ability to elaborate and manage requirements. One way of understanding what consumers really need is to use the “5 whys” approach, which involves asking why five times about a single problem to gain greater depth.  

Using Less Time and Money for Testing

In the marketing world, thinking about moving fast and breaking things is a common mantra. And well-established companies need pace. However, in the race to go faster, things that are seen as additional services, such as testing, will suffer. Seeing testing as a waste of time may lead to serious quality problems, particularly if manual testing is used. Instead, look to research and related “ancillary” processes to provide a better BI experience. 

Limiting testing, particularly when the only testing performed is manual, results in a high number of errors in user testing, which has an impact on product delivery. 

Short-Term Broader Data Integrity is Important

Reading, viewing, and analysing data is convenient with business intelligence software. But what if the data you’re providing the system is tainted? Or, to put it this way, how can you show an IT analyst that your management decisions are based on high-quality data? If you concentrate solely on the BI tool and its setup, you can overlook this crucial information. 

Taking a Defensive Approach to Unsatisfied Customers

Dealing with irritated users is not something any technology expert looks forward to. There will be system errors and annoying points. Your response to these issues will determine if your BI project succeeds. 

 

The two most common mistakes that BI newcomers make are concentrating all their attention on delivering requests and failing to include business end-users in the project. What matters is, are you providing your customers with the information they require to make decisions? Do you know what information they require? Is there an alternative to making a new report to solve the problem? It’s preferable to prioritize user complaints based on their relative relevance to your overall plan rather than simply dismissing them. 

Conducting Analysis with No Purpose

When you have effective resources at your side, it’s only normal to look for ways to use them. Business intelligence without guidance, on the other hand, is a waste of time. This issue is especially prevalent among young professionals. 

 

Inexperienced and eager business intelligence practitioners risk developing tunnel vision and doing interesting research that isn’t motivated by meaningful questions. The findings often lack a ‘so what’ finding and struggle to offer actionable insights. It takes business knowledge and judgement to avoid this blunder. One way to avoid the “so what” dilemma is to ask yourself, “How does this research apply to the company’s goals?” 

Thinking Data is Sufficient

Is it possible that “more data” can solve all our business problems? Many aspects of business intelligence and analytics are based on this unspoken presumption. It’s not going to be working to just drop data at an executive and hope for the best. 

 

Data is dismissed or trumped by belief if it isn’t interpreted and argued convincingly. The importance of making a strong case and crafting a compelling narrative can never be underestimated. The field analysts may be aware of the implications of data collection. You can’t presume that those who are a few steps away from the data will understand that argument. 

Relying only on BI tools

Technologists understand that the right method will make a huge difference. Consider the first time you used a script to automate a time-consuming process. Those early victories motivate you to keep looking for new ways to solve business problems. Unfortunately, putting too much reliance on your business intelligence tool can lead to disappointing results. 

 

Even if the tools are becoming more user-friendly, there are process, cultural, and learning elements that must be addressed to achieve progress. 

Vendor Management is Ineffective

It is possible that your organization doesn’t have a business intelligence department. Working with outside experts makes sense in that situation. You could hire them to act as an outsourced service provider or to help on a particular project. In any case, you must know your vendor and provide oversight, particularly when it comes to subcontractors. 

 

It is your duty to manage the problem and figure out who is working on your behalf if a third party is involved. Otherwise, you might be in for a BI failure. 

Dismissing Tools like SQL and Excel

Are you aware that there are Microsoft Excel championships held every year? Take, for example, the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship, which attracts over 500 thousand participants and offers cash prizes to the winners. That is just one indication of Excel’s growing popularity in the corporate world. SQL has a large following in the technology community but to a lesser extent. 

Identify these 9 ways you are failing at Business Intelligence and make a big shift with power of BI in a company with ramifications for employees’ jobs. In leading people through the process, the practice of change management and leadership cannot be overlooked. 

If you’re interested in knowing how agile BI solutions can lead your company to success, contact us now, to eliminate these 9 ways you are failing at business intelligence and lead your way to data driven insights.

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Financial Reporting vs. Management Reporting. What is the Difference
Blogs

Financial Reporting vs Management Reporting

Financial Reporting vs. Management Reporting. What is the Difference

Reporting is essential to the growth of any business. The reports provide information and insight for the business leader when making strategic choices that impact not only all the departments but also the company, particularly when it comes to financial and management reporting and analysis. An organization benefits from reporting, as it helps them to evaluate progress regarding their business objectives in an enterprise, and to make strategic decisions to lead the business towards future success. 

 

Many company owners are familiar with the standard financial reports they can expect monthly, but many are not familiar with the types of management reports available that could help boost efficiency and profitability for their companies. There are different kinds of management reports available. 

 

While there are different kinds of strategies in both financial and management reporting, organizations often search for someone who can work in both. That is why it is crucial to know the differences between financial reporting vs. management reporting. 

What is Financial Reporting?

Financial Reporting is directed towards compliance and is used for external purposes. Financial reporting is the method of shaping business strategies by supplying company stakeholders with financial reports. Financial Reporting can also be created to inform internal decisions. However, documents normally appear somewhat different from the data and contain different details. After that, the financial reports are sent to third parties. Financial Reports includes the usual weekly, monthly and annual reports that businesses get each month, including: 

 

– Profit and Loss Statement 
– Balance Sheet 
– Accounts Payable 
– Accounts Receivable 
– Cash Flows Statement 

 

Depending on the time span, these reports will cover multiple time periods. The intent of the report, as well as the third parties requests. For instance, annual financial reports to shareholders will include a three-month time. These reports are crucial for any organization. These reports are used by banks, investors, and regulators to accept loans, lines of credit, and other decisions. In many situations, financial reports are needed to ensure adherence to certain laws or regulations. 

 

At a given point, these reports represent your company’s financial position. They explain the general impression of the success of your company but fail to provide deeper insight into the details of your business operations. They look backwards and don’t even inform you about the performance of the business in the next month or next year. Modern systems for financial restructuring may be altering this dynamic is due to the accumulation of data in real-time, as well as automated processes of reporting now allow the creation of financial reports that contains details of the current financial reports for your organization. 

What is Management Reporting?

With management reporting, companies can have a deeper insight into the financial health of their organization. Management reports provide more insight than financial reporting into the company’s financial situation, performance, and overview of all departments. Management reporting and analysis provide greater insights, which include the ability to segment and analyse information in a broad range of ways. Some of the ways include: 

 

  • Profit and Loss by Divisions 
  • Realization Rate 
  • Utilization Rate 

Management Reporting is focused on parts of the business instead of an overall view of the organization. By segmentation, you can get into the specifics and examine the drivers of the business. For instance, an example would be the evaluation of how the Marketing Department operates over a given amount of time, or how much benefit a sales employee has had over a certain month. Though, you might want to make sure that you are receiving the correct reports that your organization requires to drive strategic decision-making. 

Key Comparison: Financial Reporting vs Management Reporting

To enhance the performance and profitability of your business, different types of reporting techniques are available. Even though both contain different techniques, companies require someone who can handle both. 

 

Compared to financial reporting, management accounting is not compulsory and is used for internal purposes mainly. Rather than relying on general accounting data used to reflect a company’s financial situation, management reporting uses main performance indicators, including metrics to evaluate a business’ return on investment (ROI). 

 

Depending on what kind of financial reporting you use to inform your business plan, management reports are always a key commodity and are almost inevitably going to surpass financial reports when it comes to receiving greater insights. Whereas financial reports are simpler, management reports are more open-ended. The financial reports are critical for avoiding cash flow challenges and making more figures. To make informed strategic decisions, you will need management reports side by side. It is necessary to ensure the right processes and systems for the execution of apt financial and management reports. 

Importance of Financial and Management Reporting

Some businesses only require financial reports every month for various reasons. Because management reports cost them extra money, they tend not to use them. If your business fails to implement management reporting, you could be losing out on details that will help your business expand or keep you from introducing expensive services that do not offer an ROI. Any business requires financial reporting for compliance, to ensure that the figures add up, and to minimize cash flow. To make informed strategic decisions backed by reliable results, your company will also require management reporting. 

 

The insights gathered from management reporting and analysis are essential to make informed decisions that might be beneficial and profitable for your business. Management reporting also focuses on future data points that help plan for long-term future projects. Any organization will be interested in getting more insight into the whole company’s activities, which tends to improve success, profit, and productivity. 

Best Practices of Doing Financial and Management Reporting

There is a dire need for creating great reports that provide data to the primary stakeholders. Reports are meant to be easily readable and comprehendible by others, so it does not harm in putting more time into ensuring all these reports make a lasting impression on the target audience. 

Listed below are some of the best practices of creating impactful financial reporting vs management reporting: 

 

– Eye Appealing Reports: Important stakeholders are always busy. Dry, lengthy reports could end up losing their attention or confusing them when they need to search for the data they require. A well-constructed report will make it easier for the leaders to skim through the required information. 

 

– Automated Processes: It is essential to use automation to create reports, as it can save time. The less time is taken to produce a report, the quicker it can reach the business leaders. With the real-time aggregation of data pulled from the entire organization, you will have a report that will contain the latest data. 

 

– Implement Graphics and other Visuals: For a report to catch the reader’s attention, it should include graphics and other visual elements that make it easier to read the report. 

 

– Point-and-Click Design: You can either recruit a graphic designer to create the visuals on the report or use a point-and-click design to navigate easily through the report and deliver it at the right time. 

 

– Multiple Reports: By automating processes, you can make multiple reports that address the operations of the entire department separately. This gives the business leaders an overview of all operations. 

In Conclusion

A company’s performance and financial stability rely on both financial reporting vs management reporting. Yet, there are a wide variety of possible results when it comes to producing reports that fulfil their goals and deliver the required data on time to the main stakeholders. 

 

So, whether you are generating reports for external or internal use, the reports must be created in an easy-to-read format that holds the reader’s attention. Here at