Finance and Accounting

Real-time reporting: Transforming enterprises from reactive to proactive

The world has experienced massive shifts in how businesses operate over the last few years. Businesses have recognised the importance of integrating business intelligence in every aspect of their business operations. However, it is easier said than done because – irrespective of the industry you operate in or the size of your business – handling the complexities and volume of data today can be a huge challenge. And the approach you take to data monitoring, analytics, and reporting can be the difference between success and failure. Real-time reporting can be a game changer here, allowing businesses to transition away from a reactive to a proactive approach.

Reactive vs. proactive analytics

As data analytics capabilities have evolved, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions, reactive data monitoring and analytics have become the norm for many businesses. A reactive approach to monitoring and analytics utilises historical data to identify and respond to an event after it occurs. Although it may have been fine in the past, today’s dynamic business environment demands agility, where a reactive approach may not be appropriate. Some modern reactive analytics tools facilitate access to real-time data reporting, allowing businesses to spot and respond to events as they occur. It may help limit potential damages, but this fire-fighting approach will strain your resources.

Proactive analytics, on the other hand, actively track real-time data, analysing trends and leveraging real-time reporting to monitor and anticipate potential events and prevent any incidents from escalating. Companies that focus on delivering a futuristic user experience tend to adopt a proactive approach, helping them anticipate any issues at the onset and make necessary adjustments to prevent the issues without having to invest a significant amount of time or resources in reacting to the fallout.

Real-time reporting for a proactive enterprise reporting strategy

Proactive analytics requires you to monitor the entirety of enterprise data in real time, automatically adjust thresholds, and alert the necessary stakeholders of any anticipated issues so you can resolve them before they cause issues for the customers or the business. This encompasses the entire process, from data collection and analysis to insights and forecasting, leveraging machine learning solutions to ensure speed, accuracy, and efficiency in today’s data-rich world.

Real-time reporting – a business intelligence tool that facilitates collection and access to data in real time – can be a great tool to make sure you have access to the most up-to-date information every second and can be used for proactive analytics. Different users and stakeholders can use this data to gain insights into data trends relevant to their functional expertise and make (or automate) split-second decisions that ensure smooth business operations.

Benefits of real-time data reporting

Although it may seem complex, with an effective enterprise reporting strategy, real-time reporting can be an intuitive and easy-to-use business intelligence tool. It is easily accessible to all types of end-users – management, employees, and clients alike – through a variety of applications and software solutions. And real-time reporting can offer a wide range of benefits to all stakeholders, including:

• Accelerated decision-making process, especially in the light of time-sensitive matters that must utilise the most up-to-date data possible.
• Improved customer service via accurate representation and monitoring of performance.
• Enhanced data insights with direct access to real-time data.
• Enhanced performance tracking by highlighting the relevant KPIs that align with your business strategy and performance objectives.
• Improved transparency between different stakeholders as everyone can access and monitor the same data.
• Reduced miscommunication by minimising back-and-forth communication and data sharing.
• Improved data accuracy as real-time data reporting makes it easier to maintain a single version of the most up-to-date truth across teams.
• Reduced time-intensive manual work as you will no longer need to compile, analyse, and manually report the data every time you need to track performance.
• Simplified cross-functional and cross-departmental data access, allowing you to compare different KPI metrics based on various factors and parameters.
• Optimised resource allocation by automating enterprise reporting and allowing your team to focus on more productive and profitable tasks.

How can Infosys BPM help?

Making the right data-driven decisions at the right time is crucial to succeed, stay competitive, and grow in today’s rapidly evolving market. To achieve this, you cannot rely on lengthy planning cycles and inconsistent reporting that fails to report a single truth. You need an enterprise reporting strategy that can ensure real-time data reporting, helping you automate tasks, and offer valuable business insights that can help you anticipate and address any issues before they escalate and harm your business. Infosys BPM experts can help you transform your reporting functions to leverage real-time reporting and accelerate a shift toward a proactive approach.