So you want to automate your business. That sounds great, and it would mean innovating on how you do business. It means making it easier for you and your clients to transact and communicate. That would also mean maximising business potential and profit. In your quest to automate, you will likely encounter all sorts of platforms when it comes to communication, collaboration, search and productivity. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, and digital literacy has made it possible for all kinds of enterprise apps available that aim to improve business and staff efficiency. 

Much as it solves a lot of problems in different areas of your business, the challenge now lies on the fact that the more apps used, the harder it becomes to read data and to take action. Collecting, integrating, analysing and acting upon your data would be impossible if they are not consolidated in one place. Adding new technology may even lead to more challenges as it aggravates system fragmentation in the organisation. And so, data consolidation from these new technologies now becomes crucial if you want to see the promised benefits achieved.

Let’s find out why:

#1: It allows the organisation to have one source of truth.

A single department in your organisation need not own data. The ideal scenario has a centralised team within the business made up of different stakeholders from across your business so everyone can be heard when coming up with the data strategy. The team should be able to integrate the data sources and come up with one source of truth. This way, pieces of information can be easily put together to be able to come up with relevant information that can help you build trust and confidence with your client.

#2: It makes real-time reporting possible.

Real-time feedback is no longer optional. It has now become mandatory because fast information is the basis for the decisions and adjustments that need to be made. With varying data from client to client and from one platform to another, it poses a real challenge and thus the need to consolidate data in one place. Remember that agile decision making is always supported by real-time reporting. With the help of different teams working together on a data strategy, the lines of communication are kept open helping come up with business decisions where it is most needed.

#3: It helps the business to be more predictive and give exact directions or rules.

Time to say not to scattered analysis. With consolidated data, you can forecast future possibilities and make concrete steps to attain your goals. Predictive and prescriptive now becomes the name of the game having all your data in one place; this is in contrast to not being able to build a trustworthy model when data is fragmented. You need to have all data in one place to see the full business picture to be able to make well-informed decisions for the future.

Consolidation of data should be a team effort. However, the challenge is real when it comes to centralising them. It will be a great help to find a comprehensive business management software that gives you the edge of having the features and tools you need to operate your business all in one place. Here is where the Zibe can help you. To know more about what it can do to help you adapt quickly, please visit Zibe.