Retail Business Intelligence tools: which ones can simplify processes

Business Intelligence tools allow to highlight actions and desires that can translate into a real competitive advantage, helping to develop new offers and services aimed at improving the Customer Experience of customers. If we add to this that Business Intelligence (BI) systems allow not only to analyze the data of the brand but also those of the competition, it is easy to understand how the Retail sector today enjoys new and incredible possibilities to increase its business. 

Business Intelligence tools significantly broaden perspectives, analyzing in real-time data flows from very heterogeneous sources: CRM, ERP, sensors, social channels. It would be enough to think of how many resources, human and technological, would be necessary to carry out this kind of survey and to produce the related reports, to understand how BI tools are now indispensable. 

BI also allows data validation, giving it transparency, quality and safety. Essential features to provide decision-makers with detailed information to develop new scenarios. 

Business Intelligence tools: "vision" helps growth 

According to research conducted by Accenture Interactive and published in the report "Pulse Check 2018: Moving from Communication to Conversion": 83% of consumers are willing to share their data to enable a personalized experience and 91% of the same consumers have more likely to shop from brands that recognize, remember, and provide relevant offers and advice. This translates into an almost exponential increase in the data available to brands, an element that, if not properly addressed, can be more of an obstacle than a real opportunity. It is therefore necessary to carefully choose which systems, platforms and tools to introduce and, certainly not a marginal factor, which partner to rely on for this choice. 

Compared to a few years ago when the collection, analysis and visualization of data required the use of different platforms, today's BI software integrates everything necessary in a single and practical suite. The Business Intelligence Tools now offer data mining, business analytics (including predictive and statistical analysis), benchmarketing, reporting functions. 

Microsoft Power BI and Qlik View are powerful data management platforms that integrate versatile Business Intelligence tools capable of providing every organization with the necessary visibility, and when useful, in real-time, of their data. These are tools that can be adapted to any context, starting from the supply chain and logistics sector, up to sales and social monitoring. 

Among the main applications we find: 

• KPI and ROI. BI tools are used to monitor the supply chain, the shipment of orders, retail sales, customer service and their profiling for personalized marketing activities, or the management of financial services in partnership with other companies. Not only does everything remain under the control of top management, but it is measured and parameterized in real-time, allowing the management to set concrete objectives, evaluating their feasibility, achievement and return on investments. 
• Insights and analytics. BI allows you to dynamically aggregate data, facilitating its reading, interpretation and above all sharing, through practical dashboards. Companies in the retail sector can take advantage of analysis tools to highlight and balance risks, using the history to understand which supplier will have any critical issues at certain times of the year, also combining geo-analytical functions. Timeliness of notifications and better quality of insights make it possible to highlight inefficiencies within certain sectors of the stores, drops in productivity and sales. The application scenarios are practically endless. 
• Forecasting. Extracting and aggregating data even more efficiently allows all management to discuss objective situations and future scenarios. A clear advantage also for the Finance and Sales sectors. Forecasting is enhanced by the use of practical dashboards, which can also find space on personal devices via the App and with access authentication. This allows, for example, a retail manager at the headquarters to have real-time access to their store data. 
• Marketing and lead management. BI can help retail companies in lead management and classification, highlighting sales status, competitive research, product social awareness and marketing activities. BI tools make it possible to delineate sales timelines with greater precision, increasing customer engagement thanks to information, messages and pre and post-sales assistance services, tailored to real needs. 
  
  It is therefore clear how only a correct data strategy and the choice of the most suitable Business Intelligence platform can allow efficient management of big data, transforming them from an unmanageable obstacle to a qualified growth opportunity.