Greater visibility and business insights, the true impact of automation 

Thanks to the rise of big data and cloud computing, data is the lifeblood of any modern, high-growth business, whether it employs 1 person or hundreds. 

Today’s businesses manage more data than ever before, from supply chain and inventory levels to insights around customer behaviors, preferences, and demand. 

Data visibility is the measure of people’s ability to access, view, monitor, and manage their company’s data in real-time. Such is the volume of this data explosion across organizations that gaining access can be difficult, making any attempts to visualize or analyze a company’s data challenging. 

Why does data visibility matter?  

The ability to see what’s happening in real-time within a business enables its leaders to: 

• Track key metrics 
• Measure operational efficiency in real-time 
• Plan and forecast their company’s future with greater accuracy 

“Data holds the key to making smart decisions, uncovering customer insights, and building innovative products and services.” 

End-to-end data visibility: Why it matters to business, 

Sanjay Brahmawar, Forbes 

Such leaders are positioned to make better informed decisions—driven and supported by the real-time data they can see in their organizations. 

Actionable business insights 

Through the application of in-depth analysis, leaders can transform their business data into useful insights to better understand, change, and improve their organization. 

For example, a leader could take the company data around a specific service offering, conduct an in-depth analysis on the data around its target customers, and discover new and potentially untapped audiences. During their analysis, they might also identify potential challenges, like supply chain problems or pricing issues. 

By deepening their understanding of their organization, its offerings, and its customers, the leader can then collate, research, and act upon their business insights, applying them to gain a competitive advantage in the market. 

Similarly, finance directors who have real-time visibility of their bottom line can analyze the data and apply the resulting business insights. They can better control and reduce their costs, forecast budgets, support strategic decision-making, and scale up their operations, while confidently driving impact and growth across the organization. 

How multiple systems can complicate data visibility 

As modern businesses grow, they will introduce new technologies and systems. This process can happen piece by piece—either via legacy systems and new purchases—or through acquisition  

The resulting mix of on-premises, mainframe, cloud, and hybrid systems can create additional challenges and even put barriers in place that prevent data visibility—especially when systems are not unified. 

In the short term, multiple systems can leave organizations vulnerable to cyber-attack, while in the long term, business leaders risk missing out on valuable potential opportunities and competitive advantages provided by data visibility and actionable insights. 

The good news is that with today’s best-in-class systems, technologies, and automation tools, it doesn’t have to be this way. 

The unification of a company’s accounting, payroll, and HR systems, for instance, will drive deeper visibility and provide better insights, support faster processes, and increase profitability across the board. 

How automation helps you get greater visibility and better insights 

Automation transforms business data into actionable insights and the detailed business intelligence that’s invaluable to leaders wanting to understand, change, and improve their organization. 

It reduces human error, takes the weight of manual admin, and drives efficiencies—removing the need for whole teams to manipulate multiple spreadsheets and spend hours manually compiling and uploading data into disconnected systems. 

Make better and faster decisions business-wide with automation. Free your time and focus to drive strategic growth and impact. And take your business to another level with Sage.