Business Intelligence has profoundly transformed the way companies collect, process and analyse their data. From sales to human resources, logistics and management control, BI offers a multitude of applications to increase overall company performance and decision-making.
It is also a great asset for chief financial officers who can rely on BI to monitor financial performance and design relevant KPIs on a daily basis. But how does this technology change the life of CFOs, while improving the agility and efficiency of the department of finance as a whole? You will find out in this article.
Exploiting data in real time
As the department of finance is faced with increasing volumes of data, it must be agile in order to process all this information efficiently. A Business Intelligence tool allows sorting, structuring, centralizing and analysing data in the best conditions. The CFO can easily establish key indicators to optimize the company’s financial performance.
Real-time data, which is one of the main advantages of Business Intelligence, makes this possible. Regardless of the volume of data available, the CFO is able to extract relevant information at any time and provide it immediately to the department of finance as well as to other departments within the company, in order to facilitate decision-making.
Automate financial reporting
Another undeniable advantage of Business Intelligence is the automation of reporting related to financial management. Indeed, data can be collected and analysed without human intervention, which saves time while generating added value. Collaborators’ time can be allocated to other tasks, such as in-depth data analysis, and processing times are significantly reduced.
In addition, centralizing and analysing data with a single solution makes it possible to consolidate all the information from the various departments. Thus, a BI tool collects data from all the software in the information system, regardless of the department concerned. This makes it possible to create much more comprehensive dashboards and enables the department of finance to perform very solid analyses.
Finally, by linking all data sources and automating their collection, BI guarantees the consistency of information within the company. From finance to accounting and sales, everyone speaks the same language and relies on a common base, which limits errors and debates among different departments.
Avoid the risks associated with manual financial reporting
Automation also helps to overcome the many pitfalls associated with the manual financial reporting. Indeed, creating a report ‘manually’ is a very time-consuming task, both in terms of content and form. Generally designed using a spreadsheet program such as Excel, this type of document also requires advanced skills to master all the subtleties of the software.
This tedious work inevitably leads to a risk of error, especially in data entry and updating, and this risk is all the higher when the volume of information to be processed is large. Moreover, a manual report requires constant monitoring, whereas an automated report is able to create alerts in real time whenever a critical value is reached or a threshold is exceeded.
The reliability of the data can also be questioned: poorly collected or incomplete, it is likely to distort the analyses and KPIs, which can be detrimental to decision-making. Additionally, a manual analysis is necessarily restricted to a limited number of financial indicators, which prevents a true global view.
Finally, in the long term, manual financial reporting will become more and more inadequate as it cannot easily evolve as the company changes and diversifies its activities over time. Moreover, the accumulation of a large amount of data within a single document makes it increasingly difficult to read and interpret.
Easily view and share financial KPIs
Business Intelligence means data viz, a functionality that allows any user to consult data in an intuitive and user-friendly way. Data visualization is based on dynamic dashboards which are accessible and understandable by the greatest number of people, in order to display essential information and KPIs.
The department of finance can thus easily share the data related to performance management or management control with the company’s various departments. Dashboards make it possible for decision-makers to have permanent access to their key indicators, without having to perform complex tasks and analyses. Ultimately, BI simplifies CFOs’ job, while improving the overall agility of the company.
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Delta Plus: managing the financial KPIs of an international group through BI |
Having a global vision of the different departments within the company
As mentioned above, Business Intelligence promotes the sharing of financial KPIs [link to financial KPIs infographics], and therefore the collaboration among the different departments. Everyone can thus perform their own analyses, independently, but also access the data of others and consult it.
By obtaining a global view of the various departments that make up the company, the financial department can rely on perfectly accurate and exhaustive data to make more informed decisions. From financial reporting to budgetary control, CFOs have an optimal view to facilitate their daily missions.
Of course, the sharing of information can be controlled and restricted according to the company’s needs. A BI solution can thus define access rights and specific authorizations, so that each user can access the data that is most relevant to them.
Analyse financial data without depending on the IT department
For a long time, data was the prerogative of IT specialists. The department of finance, like other departments, was therefore dependent on the IT department to analyze their data. Business Intelligence tools have changed the game, offering ergonomic and intuitive interfaces, accessible to non-specialists.
BI therefore frees CFOs from the IT department, making it possible for them to carry out their reports autonomously and to generate indicators that perfectly meet their needs. At the same time, self-service BI frees the IT department from many tedious tasks, allowing it to focus on more essential missions.
Real-time and autonomous data processing, creation of perfectly reliable and exhaustive reports, sharing of KPIs, collaboration among different departments, etc. Business Intelligence offers many advantages to CFOs, making it an essential tool for improving the company’s performance and making better decisions on a daily basis.
All you need to do is find the right tool to harness the full potential of Business Intelligence. Awarded for its agility, ease of use and performance, DigDash Enterprise is a complete BI solution, capable of covering all the needs of the departments of finance.
