Data generated globally is increasing exponentially by the minute, which is why we need a sound analytics infrastructure in place to manage and make sense of it all. Approximately 85% of companies investing in analytics are reaping its benefits, becoming the frontrunners in the market.
According to technologyhq, investment in analytics defines the difference between rising and falling companies in today’s time and will continue to do so in the future. There has been a notable uptick in the number of companies implementing or looking to implement analytics as a part of their business plan overtime to help boost efficiency, drive strategy and change, enhance financial performance, and become more cost-effective.
However, even with the market booming and many companies adopting it without any second thought, capturing real value from analytics is still a challenge, as per senior executives. Failing to incorporate analytics effectively in all areas of the organization and only scraping through small gains are dampening the spirit. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure the right analytics is delivered to the right people in a form they can effectively use for informed decision-making and in turn drive better business outcomes.
At To-Increase, we help organizations realize faster speed to analytics with our no-code, end-to-end enabled analytics solutions. In this video blog, you will hear our analytics & business intelligence (BI) experts discuss the challenges faced by our customers when implementing analytics and how our solutions helped navigate them effectively.
To-Increase’s experience with analytics & BI implementations
So, how do we, at To-Increase, manage data analytics and BI implementations for our customers?
We believe in employing a thoughtful approach considering factors like business objectives, the data type and volume, type of users, and more. The goal here is for organizations to implement analytics at scale and reshape their strategy around it, keeping in mind all the core functional areas. Embedding analytics at a microsegment level can create a positive ripple effect across the entire organization, which is what we are trying to achieve.
Without further delay, let’s hear our experts share their experience on analytics and BI implementations.
Video transcription
What is To-Increase’s role in the Analytics & BI world?
In today's cloud world with Dynamics 365, it is difficult to extract and validate data. Having access to information that is critical to the success of multiple areas, including sales, finance, marketing, and a multitude of other areas and departments, is very important for our customers.
We at To-Increase deliver BI tooling on top of standard Microsoft products to support our partners and customers in setting up a BI strategy by sharing knowledge and experience.
How important is defining the right KPIs for handling Analytics and Business Intelligence projects?
I often see that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not specific enough or too generic (for example, increase in profit, decrease in churn rate, or a turnover list by customer). A well-defined KPI must be SMART, which means it must be:
- specific,
- measurable,
- achievable,
- realistic and
- time-limited
KPIs must track what needs to be done in order to meet the pre-defined strategic objectives. Many times, companies define Key Result Indicators (KRIs) instead of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A key result indicator indicates a current state but not how well a department or company is doing.
Do you have examples of key result indicators vs. the key performance indicators?
Typically, key result indicators include:
- Number of page views
- Number of sales orders to deliver
- An average time a visitor spends on a webpage
Good examples of key performance indicators are:
- Number of meetings booked last month
- Number of demos completed last month
- How much turnover do we still have to make to achieve our turnover goal?
A well-defined KPI has a link between the strategic goal and the KPI.
What other challenges do you see when implementing BI solutions?
It is very important to define a leader who will be responsible for achieving each KPI. A leader is needed to oversee the process and assign tasks to every member of the team. This will make the process of achieving the defined target and tracking the KPIs much easier.
Are there any technical challenges when implementing a BI solution?
Yes! With the introduction of F&O as a cloud solution, the process of extracting all the necessary raw data from F&O has become more difficult. This is because it is no longer possible to extract data directly from a production F&O database. In standard F&O, data can only be exported to an external database by means of data entities. However, data entities are not available for all data, especially when the system is extended with, for example, custom-made tables and/or fields. To create or change data entities, developers are needed. This makes the process of making data available for BI a costly affair due to longer lead time and knowledge dependency.
The complexity and diversity of the F&O database is only increasing. Therefore, proper knowledge of the F&O database is required to extract the right data and correctly model it into dashboards containing KPIs and reports.
How is To-Increase helping their partners and customers?
We help our partners and customers by offering products that help solve their technical challenges and provide advice and support, following the Microsoft strategy. We deliver two products, which are: Data Modeling Studio and Business Analytics Suite.
Data Modeling Studio makes it possible to export all data from F&O in a configurable way to an external database. No developer is required, and data can be made available within minutes. Functionalities such as incremental exports, monitoring, and data validation are included within the product.
Business Analytics Suite in combination with Data Modelling Studio, is a standard reporting & analytics solution with pre-built content for F&O and the ability to include additional data from other source systems like CRM, SharePoint, legacy ERP system, and Microsoft Excel.
We deliver content packages providing both Excel reports as well as Power BI dashboards, each organized with multiple individual analyses or topics. We also offer training for users to become proficient in using Excel and Power BI, apart from leveraging the Business Analytics Suite’s data model and creating mashups with their own data or calculations.
What can you do next?
We hope the information presented above helped you understand the analytics implementation process followed by To-Increase. Now that you have an idea of our approach and how our solutions can prove to be an asset for organizations looking to be a part of this ever-growing world, you might have some questions. If that is the case, you can reach out to our experts, who can help and guide you with the next steps.
In the coming times, the frenzy around analytics will only keep getting bigger, giving users the power to influence decisions, processes, and operations in an organization with the help of data insights. Ensuring it’s a core aspect of your business strategy and foundation can drive improved performance outcomes.
If you would like to get an in-depth understanding of our analytics solutions and how they can work for you, see them in action by scheduling a demo. This can give you a better understanding of the product features, benefits, and how they can be implemented in your organization.
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Sumana Samuk
Ankit Bhadana
