09 Nov
A new white paper from IWI Consulting, “Great Visibility and Better Business Decisions,” provides details on how businesses can transform their decision-making processes through the use of data derived from systems such as Sage Business Intelligence. Sage Business Intelligence draws information from Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), tying multiple databases together into one robust system. The result can break down department silos, as the report states, improve productivity and efficiency, and increase your profits.
Why Do Silos Occur in Business?
Business silos are something with which many people are familiar. Departments cling to their data and make others run circles to access it. In other scenarios, the data exists, but only one or two people know how to run the specific system to access it. The resulting information bottlenecks can throw off schedules, decrease productivity, and derail efforts at creating data-driven cultures.
Silos can be a result of poor technology infrastructure as well as people’s emotions and psyches invested in their role as gatekeeper over information. Some people subtly cling to older systems because their ability to access data gives them power in an organization. Others simply don’t know that alternatives exist. If your company has always operated in a specific way, and it does not know that there are better, easier ways of completing the same tasks, it might be difficult to make a change.
New Systems Foster Collaboration
The white paper provided by IWI Consulting emphasizes how new business intelligence systems foster collaboration and break down silos within organizations. Business intelligence data through systems such as Sage Enterprise Intelligence tie multiple data bases together for real-time operations.
Because data is no longer kept separate, it no longer requires separate access to obtain it. Everyone within the organization can find and use the same data.
Data can also be viewed across multiple platforms. This big-picture view fosters collaboration and cohesion among the teams at your workplace, ensuring that everyone is working from the same data source to form conclusions.
Lastly, an important benefit from such systems is the ability for them to alert managers of critical situations. Supply chain management becomes easier when you’re aware of low stock levels. Orders can be fulfilled more rapidly if you know how much you have in the warehouse, and so on. Data that is no longer contained in silos becomes a powerful ally.
Insights Originate from Many Places
It’s rare that insights arise from just one person within an organization. When managers throughout your company can access shared data, they have the information needed to make better decisions. These insights can be shared across teams, fostering collaboration among different groups to solve business challenges and create new plans and ideas.
Delivering True Data Visibility
Business intelligence solutions deliver true data visibility. By merging ERP and other systems, and providing insight into multiple data streams gathered from throughout the organization, it can deliver data visualizations and reports that help you see the big picture or drill down into the details.
The emergence of newer business intelligence solutions, powerful ERP tools, and other accounting, finance, operations, inventory, sales, and marketing databases has the potential to completely transform businesses. Manufacturers can especially benefit from improved visibility into supply chain management, inventory, and sales data.
By using these new tools, your business can remain competitive, utilize resources more effectively, and increase profits. But it all starts with the right business intelligence solutions.
About IWI Consulting
IWI Consulting offers numerous Sage products to enhance your organization’s data-driven culture. Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), Sage Enterprise Intelligence and many other systems can transform how you use data in your organization. Manufacturers will find their productivity increases as data becomes more available throughout their organizations. For more information, call IWI Consulting at 1-866-916-3851.