The top two technical features of analytics; the top three statistics behind client needs for analytics
Standard – “out of the box” – ERP reports typically provide pre-determined ways to view historical data. For example, a year-over-year sales report may look at gross revenues – failing to show geographic variances, over and under-performing products, and other mitigating factors.
Most glaringly, traditional reports do not “slice and dice” or “drill-down” into the data presented you. For example, a Salesperson Performance report may show that some of your reps are underperforming, but it doesn’t give you the flexibility (and interact-ability) to find out why – perhaps identifying specific products, regions, or even times of year when a rep’s numbers are abnormally low.
So – although Analytics are all about improving future success, their ability to do that depends entirely on their ability to do a better job than standard reports in analyzing the past.
A recent poll of organizations that were investing in BI were asked their reasons why – and the top three answers are telling:
- 60% wanted to produce & deliver more sophisticated & flexible reports.
- 70% gave monitoring cash flow as a top reason.
- 80% stated that optimizing inventory was a chief concern.