Data – a word that has been thrown around a lot but all for a very good reason. Today, most businesses can’t or shouldn’t operate without really evaluating their data, and those who have the skills to interpret it and use it to their benefit are the businesses that have been able to grow from strength to strength. Not only does data hold the key to unlock invaluable business intelligence, but it also gives rise to an entirely new way of doing business. Being smart and efficient about how you run your business, are two aspects where data is really valuable as it highlights where you are doing well and where you need to improve as well as showing aspects that you may not even have thought about.

From analytics to reporting, data reveals a number of benefits for organisations that are looking to improve on their output and with a good system in place, businesses who have invested in an ERP solution (enterprise resource planning), have access to data that can really change the way in which they do business. However, not all of them are making use of it to the best of its ability. Data harvesting, when done correctly, can transform a business. Here’s a few tips to optimise the use of your ERP and as well as your data:

Consistency is Key

When it comes to data, it is imperative to ensure that consistency is maintained. When it comes to data harvesting, it needs to happen regularly to ensure that it can be analysed in bite-sized chunks as opposed to mammoth amounts that take up more time than necessary and can easily become indigestible. A good ERP solution can yield important insights but it is important to ensure that they are regularly extrapolated.

Analytics Reveals the Value

Once the data is harvested, it is analysed and translated into more digestible information that makes sense to all stakeholders. These analytics will reveal the value of the data, the hidden details that may not seem obvious to the untrained eye, and can bolster any strategy ideas that may or may not be in the system. Analytics gives way to reporting, in which the data is further translated and various key insights are highlighted to ensure that business decision makers are able to make better, more informed decisions. Reports are also used to outline the business intelligence garnered from the data, which gives businesses an upper hand.

Data Gives Way to Better Business Intelligence

A reliable and high-quality ERP solution will deliver data that gives way to better business intelligence. When partnering with IQ Retail, it is important to take note of the fact that our business intelligence system delivers solutions that can help organisations analyse, assess and adapt their work processes in order to work smarter and become more efficient

IQ Retail has designed this software to support the way in which business decision makers view and run their businesses. The reporting tools are designed to present performance against objectives, at any financial level, from the broadest sweep to the finest detail. Further benefits include:

• Clarity on performance against targets
• Enhances the quality of operational and financial decisions
• Gives directors, financial staff and managers “need to know” information
• Centralises all key data in a consistent secure, permission-based environment and
• Puts performance at the heart of an organisation’s management.

To unlock the value of your data or even to use your ERP system to it’s full potential, it is imperative to partner with a service provider that has a deep and refined understanding of data, business intelligence and your relevant industry. To find out more about a reliable ERP and business intelligence solution, click HERE