Historically, Business Reporting and Analysis software gained its start in the process industry, where many complex variables are measured against each other to determine patterns, causalities and cost implications, but it`s enormous benefits and versatility have accounted for it`s growth and popularity in all industries.
More and more small and medium size businesses are unlocking their competitive advantage by turning to business reporting and analysis tools. "Business reporting and analysis software can assist small and medium size businesses in optimizing their existing resources," says Quentin Slabbert, who heads up OPUS Knowledge Dynamics, the consulting and project services arm of Opus Technologies, local developers of Opus Business Reporting and Analysis software.
"All business can benefit from business reporting and analysis software," says Angela McCallum, Business Development Manager for Opus Technologies, "especially small and medium size companies who want to stay ahead of the intense competition they face. Opus reporting software enables companies to measure their overall performance across any number of defined Key Performance Indicators (KPI`s). Actual versus target is the most common measurement that the business reporting and analysis tool is used for."
Paul Vlachakis, Software Development Manager for Opus Technologies says, "Business tends to separate their IT departments from the rest of their operations, but Opus reporting software links the commercial and IT functions by sourcing data wherever it resides," in small and medium size business this is typically from a SQL database because of it`s availability and favourable pricing. But the system can also access information from MIM `s, LIM`s, SCADA`s, MS Access, flat files, spreadsheets, accounting systems and SAP and Baan type ERP systems via a transitional table to ensure data integrity. "Companies are able to draw up a report or analysis as quickly as the information becomes available, this is the real-time competitive advantage of this type of software," says Vlachakis.
The Business Reporting and Analysis software industry is still in its infancy in South Africa, and there are diverse tools available on the market, Vlachakis makes the distinction between those that are suitable for large organization and those that can be used across the board, "some of the tools are the market are more suitable for large companies because they require the specialized knowledge of a developer, while Opus is an end-user tool that is easy to configure and companies of any size can uplink and use immediately. As a locally developed product, it is also extremely price competitive."
McCallum comments, "The cost of ownership of a business reporting and analysis tool is very small. Companies employing this type of tool see Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Investment (ROI) much sooner than companies who don`t. Within a very short period of time, this type of software pays for itself."
Opus Business Reporting and Analysis software is currently installed at a mid-sized IT development company, Adroit Technologies who use the tool to analyse sales and customer support functions. Pawel Pietak, Support Manager for Adroit comments, "In the past, we logged our call information from our Humbolt system to a SQL database but didn`t use a reporting tool and the data was rarely accessed or utilised. The installation of Opus in April 2003 allowed us to analyse the figures and report on the progress of our KPI `s: actual versus target. Prior to installing Opus, the average logged call took 20 days to close. Today we use Opus to report on and monitor our monthly KPI`s and close a call within 24-48 hours and aim to get this down to a solid 24 hours turnaround. We also use Opus to monitor the average call turnaround time per support staff member and use this to identify which staff require more training."
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