Business Intelligence Blog

Eastern Industrial Supplies opened its doors in 1980 in Greenville, South Carolina and has grown to have branches in six different states across America. Eastern specializes in the quality distribution of pipe, valves, fittings and commercial plumbing products. Two years ago, it set up an e-commerce division which has helped maintain healthy growth. Data drives the decision-making, as everyone relies on Phocas data analytics to validate responses and add value to their work.

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Topics: Case Study, Job Role - Sales, Job Role - IT, Industry - HVAC/Plumbing, ERP - Epicor, decision-making

 

Business intelligence (BI) systems provide a single source of truth for data management across all of your operations’ data. BI aggregates the data in a way that makes it easier for you and your team to access and analyze information for more strategic decision-making. Tracking key metrics across inventory, customer behavior, finance, and other areas of your business has never been more important with the uncertainties that are impacting practically every industry today. As you evaluate your BI strategy and the role analytics plays in your future, consider the following six dos and don’ts for data management to make data more accessible and meaningful to your teams.

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Job Role - Executive, Job Role - Inventory/Operations, decision-making, business intelligence dashboards, data visualizations, KPIs and metrics

Business leaders want to make decisions faster and with more efficiency.  Without visible data that is accessible and organized, it’s nearly impossible to make well-informed decisions. Liked driving a car on a foggy road at night, you will have difficulty identifying the best route or avoiding potential obstacles on the road. However, with data visibility, you have the clarity to make good decisions at the right time, as well as the flexibility to respond to potential challenges.

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Topics: Industry - Electrical, Job Role - Executive, decision-making, data analytics

The world is experiencing a data boom. We create as much as 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, and counting. Data generated by your customers, ERP systems and partners has the power to give your company an enormous competitive advantage. However, this information needs data refinement – it needs to be prepared, collated and analyzed in the right way. Today, data needs to be handled more like manure, not gold. 

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Job Role - IT, Job Role - Executive, decision-making

Litex Industries Limited is an extensive electrical products wholesaler located in Texas, USA. After the recent merger and acquisition growth, there are now 11 companies in the corporate family. To manage the challenges of multiple ERP systems across multiple divisions, Litex’s CIO turned to Phocas data analytics. Starting with the group's sales data, Phocas brings all ERP and vendor POS into a single source of truth. Business data is critical for the sales company, so using Phocas for data consolidation has enabled fast strategic decision-making in the sales leadership team.

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Topics: Case Study, Job Role - Sales, Job Role - IT, Industry - Electrical, ERP - Infor, decision-making, ERP -JD Edwards Oracle

As companies continue to use their systems and technology to achieve a competitive advantage and adapt to change, Business Intelligence (BI) is a digital transformation tool people are curious about. Modern BI is attractive because it has a low barrier to entry and companies can implement the software quickly.  So how is business intelligence used? And who uses it?

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Job Role - Sales, Job Role - IT, Job Role - Executive, Job Role - Inventory/Operations, Job Role - Marketing, decision-making

Harrisons Sauces is part of BI Europe and manufactures condiments and sauces, supplying a variety of sweet and savoury sauces and seasoning to a wide range of market sectors across the globe. The company uses an ERP system to manage and control its manufacturing processes and has added Phocas cloud business intelligence software to streamline products and increase profitability.

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Topics: Case Study, Industry - Manufacturing, Business Intelligence Basics, Industry - Food and Beverage, Job Role - Inventory/Operations, decision-making, Dynamic reporting, business intelligence dashboards, data visualizations

Parrish-Hare is an electrical products supplier for commercial and industrial construction across Texas. The company is data-driven so everybody uses data analytics to access business information in real time, 'to see where they're at and where they’re going' on a daily basis. Electrical distribution is competitive, so by leveraging data, everyone makes more valuable decisions, this is turn serves customers better from ensuring stock is always available to meeting delivery deadlines.

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Topics: Case Study, Industry - Electrical, Job Role - Inventory/Operations, decision-making, Dynamic reporting, business intelligence dashboards

Do you ever make decisions on the run? Have you dropped the price on a product by a few percent for a good customer and then found they didn’t increase sales and you lost money? Whether you have a family-run organization or an international company, data should be the foundation of your strategic decision-making.  With the right data analysis and tools, what was once a gut-feel decision becomes actionable insight that will lead to greater business success.

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Job Role - Executive, Job Role - Inventory/Operations, decision-making, data visualizations, KPIs and metrics

Businesses continue to seek tools to analyze data for improved decision making. At the leading edge of these efforts is business intelligence (BI) software. Business intelligence (BI) is about delivering the right information to the right people at the right time, and Cloud BI is a fast way to access data. The strength of Cloud BI is to provide access to data from anywhere, but cloud investments also bring greater flexibility to companies, quicker reactions to changing market conditions and the ability to scale. 

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Topics: Business Intelligence Basics, Job Role - Executive, storage, decision-making