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May
01
2022

Is Your DSD Business Getting the Most Out of Its Data?

The 5 Top reasons to use Business Intelligence over traditional reporting

Jonathan Touhill

Do you know the difference between traditional reporting and business intelligence dashboards? If not, don't worry. You're not alone. In fact, many people use the terms interchangeably. But there is a big difference between the two - and it's important to understand that distinction, especially if you're responsible for making decisions about data within your organization.

Traditional reporting is a process that many businesses still use today. It involves compiling data into reports and sending them to decision-makers to make decisions about the future of the company. Business intelligence dashboards are designed to do exactly that - provide information about the business in an easy-to-read format so that decision-makers can make quick, informed decisions. In this blog post, we will discuss the differences between these two methods of reporting and show you why business intelligence dashboards are the future of reporting.

The importance of data and analytics in direct store delivery (DSD) is no secret. With rising costs and labor challenges, data and analytics allow businesses to make better decisions about their operations, customers, and products. However, data is only useful if it can be effectively analyzed and interpreted. This is where traditional reporting falls short. Traditional reports are "snapshot in time" and quickly go stale. They are also often difficult to understand and interpret. Business intelligence dashboards, on the other hand, are designed to provide real-time insights into the business. This allows decision-makers to see what is happening in the business at any given moment and make decisions accordingly.

Here are 5 good reasons why Business Intelligence makes sense for your DSD business.

Easy to tell a story with your data

When you are using a business intelligence dashboard, it is easy to tell a story with your data. You can use the power of visuals to show trends, outliers, and patterns that would be difficult to see in a traditional report. For example, let's say you want to track the progress of a direct store delivery (DSD) average invoice. With a business intelligence dashboard, you would interactively be able to see the progress of the DSD average invoice over time. This would allow you to quickly see if any trends or patterns are emerging. To complete the story, Dashboards also allow users to drill down into the data to get more information about the sales numbers used to determine the DSD average invoice. In fact, you can drill all the way to the invoice detail level!

Make informed decisions in less time

Another advantage of business intelligence dashboards is that they allow you to make informed decisions in less time. With a traditional report, you would receive a bunch of data and then have to make a decision based on that data. However, with a business intelligence dashboard, you can see the data in context. For example, let's say you want to track the sales productivity of a an asset (freezer, cooler or rack display) placed in a store in the last 30 days. If an asset placed at a store has not had a sale in the last 30 days, the BI dashboard would simply show you the number of assets without a sale in the last 30 days and give you the ability to quickly drill to see the details of the asset in order to resolve the issue.

Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs)

With a business intelligence dashboard, you can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time. This allows you to quickly identify issues and take corrective action. For example, let's say you want to track the sales productivity of an asset placed in a store in the last 30 days. If an asset placed at a store has not had a sale in the last 30 days, you can quickly take action to move the asset to a different location.

Quick, intuitive design = swift decision-making

Business intelligence dashboards are designed to be quick and easy to use. This allows decision-makers to make decisions quickly and efficiently. For example, let's say you want to track the progress of a direct store delivery (DSD) average invoice. With a traditional report, you would receive a table with data points for each day. However, with a business intelligence dashboard, you would be able to see the progress of the DSD average invoice over time. This would allow you to quickly see if any trends or patterns are emerging.

All data, 1 central location  

Another advantage of business intelligence dashboards is that they allow you to view all of your data in one central location. Rather than cutting and pasting from multiple reports to create a single report, you can view all of your data in one place. This can be time-consuming and often results in decision-makers not having all the information they need to make informed decisions. With business intelligence (BI)  dashboards, you can view all of your data in one place. This allows you to quickly see trends, outliers, and patterns that would be difficult to see in traditional reports.

So, what's the bottom line?

The bottom line is that business intelligence dashboards are easy to use, allow you to avoid information overload, and provide you with all the information in one place you need to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently. BI dashboards for DSD offer a quick, easy way to make informed decisions. With BI dashboards, you can tell a story with your data, make informed decisions in less time, and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time.

Interested in learning more? Contact us at (888) 550-4700 or salesinfo@integrasys.com