5 Signs Your Business May Need a Data Alignment
When your back is aching and your body seems out of whack, you might go to the chiropractor for an alignment.
When your car can’t seem to drive straight and the steering is wonky, you take it to the mechanic to have the alignment checked and fixed.
But what about your business processes? How do those feel? Painfully slow and out of sorts? Hard to manage? Are your business processes in alignment with the daily work of your teams, your company goals, and your clients’ needs?
You might need to ask yourself: Does my business need a data alignment? It doesn’t matter if you’re using business intelligence or working from different software systems you’ve cobbled together. If your data is misaligned and poorly managed, your business is very likely suffering.
How many of the 5 signs your business may need a data alignment do you think you’re experiencing right now?
You’re manually entering data
Manual data entry is a big red flag that you need a technology solution. It’s inefficient, wastes time and money, and introduces more risk because it’s prone to human error. If you’re pulling data from one system to another, or re-entering data points in any way, you need an alignment.
It takes forever to generate reports
In an ideal, efficient world, all the data you need should be at your fingertips. But that can’t happen if your system can’t handle retrieving real-time data on top of transactional processing. If generating reports is a slow, laborious process, you need a data alignment.
You have to go from one system to another to run a report
Another common problem with businesses when it comes to technology is having multiple technology solutions for different processes. When you have data coming in from multiple sources, getting a handle on reports and business processes in order to make decisions can be time consuming if not nearly impossible. If that’s the case, you need a data alignment.
Your data seems “off”
Human error can be a real problem when it comes to data management and reporting. Even if you’ve connected your data sources to a business intelligence solution, if the data wasn’t prepared properly, you could have a governance problem. And that means you need a data alignment.
One department has no idea what the other department is doing
So your marketing department has fancy software. Does your sales team have access to it? Does your C suite know what sales are in the pipeline? Do your account managers know which clients are delinquent? If one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, you’ve got inefficiencies in your processes. Aligning your data so that everyone has access makes it easier to communicate and analyze independent processes.
Data alignment paves the way for better business
Did you say “yes” to two or more of these scenarios? If you did, just know that that’s more common than you think. (In fact, we’d be surprised if it were only two, based on our client experiences.)
Most businesses that come to us for a technology solution are in need of a data alignment. With a proper information management program, you can transform your data into powerful insights. You can have a unified view of the whole business – even automate processes so your information is updated and ready for consumption with minimal human intervention.
Much like having your spine or your car aligned, it’s smooth sailing once it’s done. That’s why you shouldn’t settle for less. A system like this pays for itself quickly in productivity, better business decisions (based on real, accurate data), and other new efficiencies.
Want to learn more about the power of data? Download our whitepaper on getting the most bang for your buck from business intelligence tailored to your business and your needs.
