Often, when companies suffer breakdowns in efficiency, it's because they struggle to effectively share information among key stakeholders. Making good decisions, and quickly, requires that everyone involved is informed in a timely fashion. If they lack critical knowledge, or they waste too much time trying to find it, it can have a very negative impact on the overall efficiency of the business.
That's where real-time business intelligence (BI) can play a crucial role. If you have BI solutions that allow quick access to information and clear transparency, it can lead to quicker decisions and a more productive organisation on the whole.
Transparency helps create a better business
At many places of business today, there's a culture of secrecy. Top-level executives make big decisions for driving the future of the organisation, and many of the employees around them are left in the dark.
According to research from longtime business executive Torben Rick, this isn't the best strategy. Companies tend to run a lot better when leaders are able to create an organisational culture based on transparency. If you're using business analytics not only to find information, but to share it with a greater number of people, this serves to increase people's sense of ownership in the business. In the long run, it should turn them into more engaged employees who achieve at a higher level.
Improving the decision-making process
Success in business is all about decision-making. You want to evaluate the information in front of you, size up your options and commit to a course of action.
Unfortunately, though, many struggle with that initial step - information. According to Information Age, approximately 79 per cent of workers have admitted that at some point in their career, they've had to make uninformed decisions at work. Moreover, 33 per cent say they do so weekly, and 14 per cent say daily.
When you make uninformed decisions, you threaten the future viability of your company, not to mention making life more difficult for your co-workers. Improving the visibility of your data can make a big difference.
Get the right data, and get it fast
It stands to reason that to build a better business, you need business intelligence solutions that can deliver information efficiently. A recent Aberdeen Group study, entitled "Operational BI: Short Term Visibility, Long-Term Stability" found that 44 per cent of operational decisions today are dependent upon incomplete or inaccurate data.
This must change. Information is critical for making great decisions, and it must be not only accurate but timely as well. Using better BI solutions to make this happen is a key strategy for companies moving forward.
