As an accountant, my most valuable commodity is time. Being responsible for daily capturing, month end procedures and group reporting, I often don’t have time to breathe! Fortunately, a lot of my responsibilities are hastened because I use business intelligence (BI), which helps me extract key information from large volumes of data directly from our accounting system, empowering me to optimize my efficiencies.
In fact, I don’t know what I would do without it! For example, using my favorite BI tool—which happens to be Sage Intelligence—I can generate a data analysis at the click of a button, it’s a dream!
Here are 5 real-life reasons why I love BI:
- It enables me to use my time more productively by removing the manual element of data analysis from my job. Essentially, it frees me up to do what I love—financially empowering our stakeholders so that we can make the best possible decisions for our business! I love being able to give our directors our top 5 expenses in a heartbeat whilst in the middle of month end.
- At times, being part of the day-to-day operations of the business causes me to drift from the overall objectives and goals which are key to getting our business to the next level. Using Sage Intelligence helps bring me closer to those goals. One of our key metrics is to ensure our debtors are maintained at thirty (30) days, and by using my customized dashboard—I can identify those slow paying debtors at a glance.
- I’m empowered to draw key conclusions from volumes of data in an instant, because Sage Intelligence gives me the flexibility to customize and manipulate my reports so that they are easier to analyze. I can also customize the look of my reports to ensure that they adhere to our brand identity.
- Sage Intelligence has helped me create dashboards, which assist me in product and revenue analysis. Having that key edge has allowed me to drill down on our key revenue generating products and to draw my focus on ways of improving our slow selling lines.
- I’m required to run the company’s key performance indicators (KPIs) either on a weekly or monthly basis, and Sage Intelligence makes it so easy. It allows me to cut down the amount of time I spend generating our KPIs by creating formulas linked to Sage Pastel Accounting—allowing me to keep my finger on the pulse of the business.
BI helps me put my best foot forward and realize the business’s objectives every day. And for this reason, I absolutely love it!
