Planning with business intelligence provides a serious differentiator

Why waste time looking for new external sources of data, when you likely have what you need already?

Companies today have a large amount of data, virtually by default. This information originates from their databases and digital interactions with clients and can become a powerful decision-making tool. If your firm isn't already making use of this resource, you may have to change that approach soon, as odds are good that your competitors have already made the switch. Gaining real-time access to data can represent a vital step in this transition.

Resources already present One of the most promising and perhaps frustrating elements of business intelligence use is that a large amount of the information that companies need is seemingly just out of reach, trapped in application or departmental silos. Take customer relationship management systems, for example. Your CRM information likely paints a strong picture of what clients want and need from the business. Using that information in different analytical contexts and placing it into business intelligence applications could help decision-makers decide on a strategy.

Using APIs to enable this data use is one way to approach the problem, but this presents its own problems. Namely, these APIs are different for each piece of technology being connected to reporting and BI apps. It's better, then, to find a single way to collect the information from all of these many applications and combine it into raw material for BI.

One interface The abundance of useful information within your existing business software applications and the need to synthesize this data demand action. This response can come from tools such as Progress® DataDirect Cloud™, part of the Progress® Pacific™ cloud platform, which uses one embeddable interface to fuel BI or other business applications that can become stronger with an infusion of real-time information. The solution was constructed with actual business needs in mind, so it can support mobile application use through paged data streaming and keep information safe, even when it has to move quickly between many different business applications.

Competitive advantage Using real-time streams of data from vital business applications is a change of philosophy for companies, one that is long overdue and can help your organization become more agile than competitors. While traditional management methods often involve a considerable amount of intuition and guesswork from leaders, this approach is fading. While slow, manual data extraction from CRM and other systems may become a waste of time, the use of an effective interface could accomplish this feat quickly.