Is Business Intelligence Software Right for Me?
The term “business intelligence software” can seem daunting, but in actuality these software solutions can be used by any number of businesses to track resources, view data, and create growth plans. If you own and operate a professional services business, take a moment to assess the needs of your company and if you’re meeting them efficiently and effectively. If the answer is no, you may want to evaluate whether business intelligence software can improve your business performance.
Consider if your professional services organization needs any of the following:
Time Tracking?
Time is one of the hardest resources to track. There are a finite number of hours in the day, but you can’t hold a unit of time in your hand like you could with a piece of inventory. However, tracking time is an absolute necessity in the professional services world. Beyond just clocking in and out, time tracking can be used to measure a project’s complexity and how much effort it takes to complete it.
Business intelligence software takes time tracking to the next level. By having employees track how much time they spend on individual tasks and projects and have these hours analyzed against past performance and project estimates, managers gain invaluable insight into how time is being divided across the company as a whole. Are simple tasks taking much longer than estimated? Or perhaps complex tasks are being finished in record time. Using business intelligence to analyze tracked time allows managers to catch these red flags so they can find out the source of the problem and rectify it as soon as possible.
If your business is in need of a time tracking solution, business intelligence software is right for you.
Integrated and Customized Data?
Every business has a handful of tools that they consider their bread and butter. Designers favor art studio products while financial wizards prefer formulaic spreadsheets. Whichever tools you use, you’ve probably experienced the pain of trying to export and import data across multiple platforms. This is both time consuming and introduces room for error in cases where data has to be manually replicated.
Business intelligence software gathers all of your operational data in a single integrated platform. Additionally, this data can be formatted into customized dashboards so you only see information relevant to your project. If something stops being relevant? Simply edit your dashboard and reports to reflect the change. Business intelligence software aims to both simplify and consolidate your data into its most actionable form.
If your business is in need of integrated and customized data, business intelligence software is right for you.
Efficient Resource Management?
Transparency can often be an issue in resource management. You may know what resources are being used, but unless they are being expertly tracked, it may be difficult to understand what that means for a project as a whole. Increasing resource management visibility and efficiency gives project managers more control over their projects and allows them to make informed decisions as the project progresses.
Business intelligence software provides this transparency by analyzing and uncovering which resources are being used when and by whom. Keeping all of these numbers straight in your head is no longer necessary when you can compare resource usage across projects, teams, and individuals. This increased visibility allows managers to operate efficiently and with the most recent and up-to-date information regarding their projects.
If your business is in need of efficient resource management, business intelligence software is right for you.
A Roadmap for Growth?
Growth is a key goal for any aspiring business, but do you have a plan to help achieve it? In addition to strategy and performance, successfully scaling your business needs a good understanding of your organization’s current operations and a method to predict the future in terms of demand and operation costs.
Business intelligence software can help create a roadmap for growth by analyzing current data about your business and forecasting future performance. In particular, these forecasting tools can help you to predict revenue, margins, and overall resource capacity, allowing you to make more informed decisions that result in business growth. Additionally, by tracking business growth and progress, business intelligence software gives you access to trends that help you adjust your business plan as needed.
If your business is in need of a growth plan, business intelligence software is right for you.
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