The first quarter has come and gone. For many of us, it's time to reflect on performance and review plans for the next cycle. So we pull the relevant reports, dust off the plans, and it's off to our favourite conference centre for a day or two (usually with a bit of team building thrown in for luck).
Sound familiar? Let's be honest, there are two underlying truths left out of this scenario: the days and days of number crunching that takes place in preparation for the session, and that nasty feeling that you should know this stuff like the back of your hand on an ongoing basis, not just when the boss asks for it.
With the reams of reports hitting your desk, your e-mail box, your PA, and (yes, admit it!) your shredder every day, we are all suffering from a serious case of information overload. That's not to say the information isn't important; it's often critical. In fact it is so critical you ideally want it disseminated down the line at an operational level, to allow for more informed and automated front-line decision-making in line with international trends.
The other key challenge is the variety of reporting tools that you and the rest of the team are exposed to. Again, the tools are the gatekeepers to data that may be essential to the successful running of your business, but accessing it from multiple sources using multiple tools makes the entire process so time-consuming that it often isn't given the priority it needs.
None of this is new. Most companies invest significant sums of money in solutions that claim to resolve these very issues, but end up disappointed. Often, more impact can be obtained by merely addressing a few fundamental BI building blocks, and working with the systems and databases that already exist within your company. These building blocks range from implementing a few key business processes, to improving and structuring access to data and reporting.
Looking at access to data and reporting specifically, industry experts agree that visualisation remains key in the BI space. And there is expected to be further blurring of the line between what used to be called “reporting” and what is now embodied in “dashboards”. Let's take a step back.
In days gone by, when people said they wanted reports, this meant static paginated documents. These evolved into interactive reports that were drillable. Now we think of reporting as information presentation and expect rich graphics, multidimensional charting and point-and-click visual exploration. This allows you to self-manage ad hoc reporting needs and speed up your ability to manage the mountains of data that need monitoring for everyday business performance.
People think visually and are looking for information tools that help them "see" information better. This isn't about more "bells and whistles" on charts or massive investment, but about information presentation that is easy to understand and act on because it's simple, yet meaningful.
Since the start of ASG Performance Solutions nearly a decade ago, providing our clients with the best possible visual picture of their data has been a key strategic driver of our business intelligence solutions. We have developed a suite of performance management reporting software tools (dashboards) that can support the interpretation of data and minimise manual intervention required to generate reports.
While the BI solutions often pull multiple data sources together, integration is kept simple through uploading predefined 'flat' files. A key differentiator is the ASG emphasis on designing the most suitable view based on key business metrics and the availability of suitable data. We understand that the 'perfect intelligence picture' is often prevented due to a lack of suitable data. This often leads to massive delays in achieving ultimate BI objectives. Our approach is to work with you to first create both a 'here and now' pragmatic solution that will enable you to start managing your business more effectively, as well as the longer term, more strategic BI vision. We then continue the journey to create the required data through the implementation of suitable business processes.
Dashboards also provide clients with 'a single view of the truth'. Although typically used by executives, different profiles are created to manage the sensitivity of some data, allowing only very specific users to view very specific data sets. Users are able to slice and dice information and drill down to a transactional data level. Data can also be exported to MS Excel.
Our BI solutions have been implemented across various industry sectors, ranging from government to private and public companies. Delivery time for solutions range from a couple of weeks up to three or four months, depending on the complexity of the data integration and design. Clients include SARS, SABC, Standard Bank Group (local, international and African operations), Gauteng Department of Health and Nedbank.
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