Finance and Accounting
Fostering collaboration and transparency through enterprise reporting platforms
As we move towards increasingly data-led processes, businesses must make the most of all the data available to them. With data at the centre, organisational success becomes attainable with efficient data collection and analysis.
Often, different departments and teams rely on a diverse set of applications and solutions, resulting in important data being trapped within departments and remaining inaccessible to others. These siloed datasets make it impossible for businesses to unlock the true potential of their enterprise data. Data silos also impede collaboration between teams, stifle innovation, and delay informed decision-making.
This is why a growing number of businesses are now adopting enterprise reporting solutions to overcome the challenge of siloed enterprise data. Using enterprise reporting tools to consolidate data from multiple sources can benefit the organisation.
Enterprise reporting best practices that allow better transparency in reporting
Enterprise reporting platforms break down data silos and enable collaboration across the organisation by providing seamless access to comprehensive, real-time enterprise data. This allows businesses to fully leverage their data, share valuable insights between teams, boost operational efficiency, drive strategic initiatives, and encourage innovation. Read on to discover popular strategies and the best practices in enterprise reporting that can boost the operational efficiency of your organisation.
Figure out where all the data is stored
Before you can start consolidating and leveraging your enterprise data, it is important first to ascertain what data is being created during day-to-day operations, the location in which it is stored, and which teams or departments can access it. This data may include sales figures, customer information, inventory details, and more from various sources. Each of these data sources must be mapped out as you determine the departments responsible for the storage and maintenance of the data collected across the organisation.
Determine the relationships between various datasets
Once you have identified the various datasets across the organisation and how they are stored, it is time to establish how they relate to each other and which ones need to be interconnected across departments.
An example of this is customer contact details collected by sales or service personnel that may be useful to the marketing team. Contemporary data analytics platforms can be used to unearth such relationships among individual data silos by identifying shared features between them.
Identify missing data
After determining the quantum of enterprise data across the organisation and where it is stored, it is time to identify data collection lapses to figure out what relevant data is missing. This step will help to refine the data collection process by making sure that all departments and teams have seamless access to all the enterprise data they need.
Examples of this process include verifying that top management has access to all employee information collected by HR teams or ensuring that all supply team personnel have access to relevant logistical and warehousing data. This is also a good time to recognise what additional data you may need to start collecting to offer a more in-depth look at the health of the business.
Set up a combined data ecosystem
A comprehensive data ecosystem ensures that all team members across all departments have access to real-time data from every source across the organisation. While this may have seemed like a big ask just a few years ago, today, we have the cloud and its associated technologies, which make it extremely easy to share data and collaborate across various teams while maintaining transparency in reporting.
Strive for universal connectivity
Rather than addressing each data silo individually, it makes a lot more sense to incorporate connections from all silos into the IT infrastructure. This can be achieved with the use of modern data visualisation and connectivity solutions that allow for universal connections between older legacy systems and the latest cloud platforms. These tools can also be paired with real-time analytics platforms to simplify the transfer of data from the source to the relevant functional application.
How can Infosys BPM help with enterprise reporting?
Multiple siloed data sources can lead to inconsistent reporting, sloppy planning of business operations, and decreased operational efficiency, which is why enterprise reporting tools are growing in popularity. The Infosys BPM Enterprise reporting, analysis, and planning Services offer businesses of all sizes a comprehensive enterprise reporting solution, enabling them to make the best possible use of their enterprise data. Reach out to know how outsourcing your enterprise reporting to Infosys BPM can help your organisation consolidate all your business data.
