There is a potential windfall financial benefit of nearly $1.6 trillion per year sitting on the table, and your enterprise can take hold of it by switching to a readily available, renewable energy source. That fuel isn't solar or hydroelectric; it's insight. According to recent findings from Forrester, insight-driven organisations are projected to reach this impressive revenue by 2020, shooting up from about $436 billion in 2015.
Companies powered by insight are using this energy source to fuel tremendous growth of 40 and 27 per cent for startups and public companies, respectively - approximately eight times the rate of the global GDP. This surge comes as a result of improvements in operations, products and services - all enabled by the increasingly common use of data insights.
Converting to insight with BI software provides enterprises with key performance advantages.
Fortunately, with the right tools, capturing business insight is not difficult to accomplish. Business intelligence software like Qlik Sense is the shovel and pickaxe needed to mine this incredibly valuable resource.
BI Tools are making organisations more competitive
"If your executives have the willpower, you can become insights-driven as well."
It's no secret that data-based insights are powerful allies for a company to have in its corner. According to a Capgemini survey, business leaders are readying themselves for a more competitive environment - 53 per cent anticipate significant pressure from data-enabled startups.
"If your executives have the willpower, you can become insights-driven as well. But change must start at the very top and penetrate to the DNA of your business, or you won't succeed. This is a tall order, but insights-driven competitors leave you no choice," writes Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester.
Picking up the gauntlet thrown down by these insight-powered challengers is made achievable with the right business analytics platform. Implementing such a solution delivers a number of key benefits to companies that truly value and harness their data.
The benefit of insights from BI tools
1. Improve access to useful data
Right now, there is a wealth of data trapped in isolated silos across organisations that needs to be untapped and consolidated.
This is particularly important, given the high cost associated with data investigation. According to IDC, an enterprise loses 9.5 hours per worker each week just searching for information - carrying an annual price tag of over $18,500.
2. Deliver increased agility for leaders
It is imperative to gather data quickly enough to make use of insights.
When it comes to using data as a source of information for strategic planning, there are two major steps: gathering the data, and then analysing it.
When too much time is taken in amassing data and transforming it into a usable format, it detracts from the ability to actually interrogate that data for the insights it holds. Fortunately, by automating many of the manual tasks associated with data collection, entry and organisation, BI tools like Qlik Sense can give key analysts the time and information they need to steer their company in the best direction.
3. Change the organisation's strategic perspective
Traditionally, performance data has been useful in a backwards-looking context; the length of time necessary to report on the information relegated it to a method of benchmarking past performance instead of informing future decisions. This is akin to driving a car and using the rear-view mirror to see which potholes you already drove over, rather than looking out the front to steer around the ones coming up.
A forward-looking perspective enables more effective strategic planning.
These insights are also available across the enterprise, meaning that all teams have access to the right data at the right time. This brings the power of insight to decisions made at all levels.
Qlik Sense, as a recognised leading business intelligence platform, improves efficiency and accessibility of data analysis, enabling a more forward-looking perspective - essential for success in an insight-driven competitive market.
To learn more about how to lead with insight check out this Forbes Report on how leading firms are arming frontline execs with data-driven insight.
