Business Intelligence is the process of collecting, storing, and analyzing any kind of information. This is used to realistically check the company’s performance. By doing this, business intelligence can help a business grow and expand. You can make better predictions about the market using data analysis. The question of what is business intelligence in forwarding is fundamental in today’s globalized world and economy. By building on worldwide data sets, a business can statistically make better decisions. This will help the business fare far better than the competition. This is especially true in the forwarding and logistics spheres, where there is a lot of data processing opportunities. By building up on scientifically proven methods, it’s possible to increase both the volume of work. This is true for profit, as well.
What problems you might face without utilizing Business Intelligence
You can gather and analyze a lot of data in the logistics and forwarding sectors. That includes things like freight forwarding, clients, info from customs, warehousing data, as well as storage unit capacities. That’s especially true for the freight forwarders in Riyadh (but other areas, too) since this area of work is full of potential good data sets. You can use these KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to keep track of your business and note down any potential changes.
If you fail to do this, you’re losing both resources and money. You could have saved both of them by analyzing data trends. For example, using the data you can calculate how much money and time is spent doing customs. Other things might include: what’s your maximum capacity and where you need to expand, how much your business is progressing over time, and so on. That’s a great example of how you can utilize business intelligence in your forwarding business to gain real insights. That’s why more and more logistics companies in Middle East and elsewhere are opting to use this system. When talking about a smaller business, these may be negligible. On the other hand, if you’re operating on a global scale, it’s of vital importance to do it correctly.
What is the BI Dashboard and how to use it
The Business Intelligence Dashboard is a data visualization and analysis tool that displays all the important KPIs. It also includes other metrics important to the company. Simply put, it’s a way to organize all the data you gathered and analyzed. For many companies in the Middle East, such as Four Winds KSA, it’s a vital part of their business. You can use these visualizations to understand the data much better, beyond their numerical and statistical meanings. These are then used for both long and short-term planning, making any sort of business decisions, and so on. Most often, they will include:
- Pie charts: to signify possible categorical data splits. It’s also great when used to showcase percentages and their mutual correlations.
- Line charts: to showcase how data is changing and moving during a specified data frame. For example, this might include a specific KPI over a period of a full year, showcasing how the business has progressed.
- Stacked bar charts: to compare different metrics or a single metric over a period of time.
- Any other data visualization tools that might help better showcase the data. This portrays what is business intelligence in forwarding really about.
How to best use business intelligence in your company
It is most often used to make business decisions (especially in the long run), albeit it can be used differently, too. For example, a wide variety of different departments and sectors in your company can benefit from it. Freight forwarding companies in Bahrain can really benefit from it, because of their line of work. Especially departments such as Finances, Operations, Logistics, Human Resources, and Customer Care. These are some of the ways how you can benefit from business intelligence in these forwarding sectors.
- Finances: by following the money flows, profits and losses, the Finances Department can make better decisions. This might include things like keeping track of the most profitable business operations and etc.
- Logistics: it provides for better responsiveness, fewer jams, and an optimized operation.
- Human Resources: often used to measure employees’ performance and see what works best to raise productivity. This can help your business grow by training and creating a better workforce, especially in the long run.
- Customer Care: detailed analysis can show you when, how, and why most of the complaints are arriving. This can help you fix the problems in question and make for a smoother customer experience.
Taking control of your data
Many business owners get easily frustrated by the fact that the Business Intelligence system doesn’t live up to their expectations. However, one of the most common reasons for this is the question of data ownership. Really, data ownership is the center of the question of what is business intelligence in forwarding. Moreover, by using third parties or online aggregators, you’re risking getting bad data sets. A number of things can happen that can hamper your attempt at data analysis. In case of any data delays, that will hinder you from making the best decision.
That’s why more and more people are taking the data ownership question more seriously. This might include things like using data warehousing to help you better store your information. It’s best to centralize the data into your own hands. You can find better ways to analyze it and use it to your advantage. Another option is using any specific piece of software, such as MS Power BI, for better visualization. The bottom line is the fact that it’s really vital to take control of the data you’re processing. If you miss to do it, you risk working business intelligence on false data and getting bad results. That’s why it’s important to centralize data flows from the start and build from there.
Conclusion: ways to utilize business intelligence in forwarding
When done correctly, business intelligence can be an absolute game-changer for your company. By using all the information exchanges in the globalized world and supply chain networks, you can build up easily. That’s the best way to develop your business, as it’s not pure luck, skill, or anything else. By working with data, you’re just doing what really works best for your business. That’s the most important thing about answering the question of what is business intelligence in forwarding. That way, there’s little room for mistakes and bad choices when utilizing your Business Intelligence results correctly. You need to set it up properly, possibly by a professional – that’s one of the possible drawbacks. After that, it’s just a matter of its optimization and continuation.
