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Key Challenges in Implementing Business Analytics Software
- July 1, 2015
- Posted by: Admin
- Category: Blogs, Business Intelligence, Business Process Management, Workflow Automation
Business analytics is an indispensable part of the modern day company. Thanks to the ever-growing volumes of big data, it’s getting more and more challenging to decipher relevant information. A good business analytics software or application solves this problem by breaking down complicated statistics into relevant and easily consumable data. But before you invest in this tool, it’s necessary to understand the associated challenges.
Business Analytics Challenges
- Business and IT alignmentBreaking down the name into ‘Business’ and ‘Analytics’ brings out the inherent association between business objectives and IT functionalities. Successful implementation of business analytics software requires thorough understanding of both components.You and your team must have clarity about your business processes and requirements. There must be awareness of improvement areas across all departments. Similarly, you need to be knowledgeable about the current and required IT infrastructure. Unless you have complete grasp on both, you won’t be able to conceptualize the right business analytics solution.
- Return on Investment (ROI)Investing in business analytics software must be perceived like a capital investment. Although the costs are nowhere close to machinery and infrastructure expenses, the basic principle is similar. Many business owners make the mistake of expecting direct returns in terms of sales numbers.Team and process efficiency improvements are the right criteria to judge effectiveness of business analytics. The results are indirect and may take a little time. As long as the expectations are right, you won’t be disappointed.
- Data IdentificationAlthough the fundamental job of analytics is to dig out relevant data from the heap, you still need to decide the input volume and sources. There is data overload in each business – product and service information, competitor activities, market statistics, customer records and much more. Identifying what to include is the first step.It is recommended to start with the most useful numbers and add more data points subsequently. You should strive to provide assistance to all departments while guarding against information overload.
- Data integrationA stand-alone business analytics system is not very effective. It might do its job flawlessly but its usability can be increased many folds by integrating it with your other enterprise applications. Such collaboration is very tough to achieve in retrospect. You must pre plan which systems need to work together and how.The feasibility of integrating the new business analytics software with the existing enterprise solutions should be done on technical, operational and strategically levels. It might seem a tedious task initially, but the benefits will outlast the efforts.
- Administration and SecurityThis is where many companies slip up. Data analytics is not a fit and forget system. Market dynamics and user requirements keep changing, and your system must keep up with it. Secondly, while you add new data points, you need to properly archive old data for future reference. It is advisable to select an analytics solution with in-built data archiving feature, preferably cloud based. Another facet of system management is having a sturdy data security system. Most systems have in-built security parameters but it’s advisable to add extra protection.
Understanding these business analytics challenges will help you prepare better and draft a more robust implementation strategy. Also, you will be able to select the right business analytics software to suit your company needs.
Client Says
We are implementing Plasma Ag Solutions across our network of locations. Plasma Ag provides several capabilities that stand out for our users such as Programs, Rebate management, and Inventory tracking. It is quite difficult to track margin information on crop protection products in our industry so our Owner Operators love the transparency the system provides. We utilize the system to professionalize our support to the network and it has become a bit success with all of them.
Several hundreds of our retail locations and joint ventures use Plasma Ag solutions as a part of their core operations. Plasma solutions provide very useful tools and deep insights to users – including tracking customer transactions and financial information. Their applications are tightly integrated with CRM, ERP, Accounting, and our other mission critical IT infrastructure and third-party systems. The dashboards provide rich analysis and insights that helps us adjust to the changing markets.
Plasma Ag solutions have been a tremendous asset to our operations. They offer powerful capabilities such as managing Retail programs, Products, Programs, local discounts, and wraps. Ability to track inventory at physical locations, calculating true and average costs, rebates and accruals on user-friendly and simple interfaces has helped us and our retail customers adopt Plasma Ag solutions quickly.
Our software, system and processes used to be an old struggling engine. Plasma team solved all that. With exceptional training and planning, their consultative executive team down to their support team executed the deployment with first-class speed and professionalism. Their platform not only removed all the pain points in my division, but also created a ripple effect benefiting my entire company.
It has been my experience that Plasma has the technical expertise, commitment, and work-ethic to deliver best-in-class solutions that allow business owners to fully realize business strategies and objectives. They work in a highly professional manner to ensure that the clients’ requirements and recommendations are fully realized. I would highly recommend Plasma for any web enablement initiative that you may be considering.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us as our online business partner. I don’t even consider our work with them outsourcing because Plasma management takes the time to truly understand our business and is able to direct its technology resources for the most efficient and quality output possible. I don’t think you can say that about many companies in their space.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us with our online requirements. I would recommend them to any company looking to better manage their online presence.
It has been my pleasure to work with the Plasma Team since August 2008. We have completed three major builds and multiple smaller projects in this time. I heartily recommend Plasma Comp to anyone needing a workable, practical and effective system solution. Plasma’s Q&A process was extremely thorough. They quickly understood what was needed and then worked the process with pointed and penetrating questions to ensure they had the entire picture of the finished product.
I think Plasma has come a long way in embracing our philosophy of becoming more agile, both leading and following in this area when necessary. The teams have been very open to change and have a great attitude. I have no complaints!
Plasma is a great vendor to work with. They took us from an email-based process to a fully designed, web-based workflow. They have dramatically changed how our devices are certified to be used on our network and they will save you time as well! One of the many processes in our current environment has saved us so much time; from four months down to a few days!
